A Second Chance
by autumnxwinds
Summary: Naruto finally succeeds in killing Sasuke, but the fight ensures he'll soon be joining the avenger. But in his last hour someone shows up and gives him one of his greatest wishes. Is it for real, or is this all some sort of trick or genjutsu?
1. Setting the Stage

**WARNING: I do not edit out violence, gore, or swear words, but I DO leave out sexual content. No worries about that.**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto.

**Chapter One: Setting the Stage**

Thunderheads looming ever closer threatened the approaching storm, but the crimson figure didn't care.

It was over.

He stared at the crumpled heap in front of him, barely recognizing the teen's features beneath the drying blood; the raven-black hair was completely caked and the bleeding eyes showed the now nearly extinct Uchiha trademark fading away.

After seven years of training, fighting, learning and creating new jutsus, he had tracked the stupid fool down.

And his greatest mission was finally over.

Naruto took a subconscious step forward, a hand extending towards his former friend, and felt a funny tug at his navel. Or where it should have been.

He pulled his gaze from the body before him and came to rest it instead on the mess of guts sliding slowly from his own, accompanied by a pulsating slush of blood. The last attack of the Uchiha had left Naruto on his way to join the avenger. There was no way that damn fox would be able to repair or replicate his organs. But Naruto didn't care anymore.

_Heh. I knew we were both going to die._

The blond fell to his knees and numbly touched his organs out of curiosity. _Ew. Gross. Never quite realized how slimy they were._ Dimly he heard something like a purr and lifted his head, searching for its source. There was nothing nearby, but after a moment of puzzlement he felt his body vibrate with a repetition of the sound and realized it had to be thunder. And it had to be directly overhead to make his body vibrate that hard or let him hear it, considering he was nearly deaf due to an attack by Sasuke on his ear drums.

His vision was consumed by a flash of white and he looked across the shredded battlefield to see a dark blot at the forest's edge. He squinted his eyes in confusion as it shuffled towards him. Little flashes of blue-tinted electricity skipped erratically along the earth to dance about the thing. Naruto's fading mental process marked the enlarging dot as a travel-cloaked human, and the lightning phenomenon as the effects of some sort of elemental affinity. He felt like the person took years to get to him, but eventually the figure—a woman, he now saw—stood before him. She had the taut aged skin of an older ninja, reminding him of the one time he'd seen Tsunade without the jutsu that made her appear younger.

The two gazed at one another, each sizing the other up, one with exhausted confusion, the other with thoughtful bemusement. Naruto caught a flicker of movement behind the woman and saw that spiral-masked bastard, Uchiha Madara, sprinting towards the two.

Except it was like he was frozen in time. Naruto realized this when the cloaked figure stayed in place for more than a second with both of his legs off the ground. That's when he realized he hadn't vibrated again, meaning there was no more thunder, and looked up to see a lightning strike poised above his head like a dagger waiting to fall.

The woman beside him knelt and swept a critical eye over his broken body. His shirt had been torn off by the rebound of one of his own Wind Shurikan Rasengan and his torso was covered in bruises, lacerations, and burns. Three injuries stood out even to an untrained eye: a slash through his back on one side of his spine, digging down enough to cause the kunai to be lodged in his body and buried to the hilt; the cut through his stomach, leaving what should have stayed inside all over the outside; and a gaping hole in the center of his chest, where the lightning from a Chidori had stopped his heart momentarily, until the demon fox's chakra had jump started it again. The woman shook her head at the devastation and her eyes flickered to the mangled heap of Sasuke, then returned to pierce Naruto's own gaze with determination.

She had decided.

"Naruto."

The voice was gentle, comforting, soft, but held unmistakable authority; the blond imagined that a grandmother would sound something like that. His eyes stayed locked with hers as she stood and put her hands on her hips.

"You won't ever forgive yourself, will you? You think you could've saved him; that you should've tried harder, done more. You refuse to recognize that it wasn't your fault. You think _you_ somehow caused this. Caused him to leave, abandon everything he once knew. You never saw the truth in his eyes, did you? You couldn't see the truth he tried so hard to bury. No one could."

The mangled teen crinkled his brow in anger as soon as he comprehended her words; anger at this stranger, who presumed to know so much about him; anger at himself for the guilt he'd thought buried for years suddenly spreading through him like a poison; anger at Sasuke and Orochimaru and Itachi for this ridiculous mess they had made. He tried to snarl at the woman, but only succeeded in managing a gurgling cough and realized his lungs and throat were filling with blood.

The white-haired woman smiled sadly, "Yet you persevered. Out of all of them, you were the one with the most hatred and fear to live off of, yet you made the most friends, the strongest bonds. I think it's time you got what you actually deserved. You exceeded all expectations and never even needed my guiding hand. Until now. What is it you _want_, Naruto?"

The boy was undoubtedly confused, but the question brought one immediate answer to his mind.

_I want to fix it all._

The old woman didn't seem shocked at the thought. She smiled.

"I can give you that."

She touched him on the forehead with the first two fingers of her right hand.

Naruto realized her fingertips were glowing pure white.

And then he saw pure black.

Read and review, please! Constructive criticism is always appreciated. =)

And if you don't like the plot, character development, etc., please don't complain. Just don't read it. Flat out complaining is not accepted nor will it be tolerated.

Now, if I mess something up (jutsus, storyline/details that I didn't intend to change, etc.) please let me know.

That's all. Thanks for reading my story!


	2. Traitor's Ass on a Plate

Here's the next chapter. Hope it's to your satisfaction!

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

**Chapter Two: Traitor's Ass on a Plate**

_Shadows danced around him, consuming him with fear. He shuddered as he heard the voices of the faceless beings; the piercing sound made him sick. He slumped against the wall and slid to the floor, clutching his head. The things laughed at his pain and he curled into a tighter ball, but that only made them laugh harder. Their laughter turned suddenly to screams and he saw a flood of white crash into the room. The things that got caught in the odd liquid were immediately incinerated, but many escaped._

_He knew they would be back, but for now_—

—Naruto's eyelids flew open and he took a shuddering gasp for air. He threw off his covers and tumbled to the hard, _cold_ wooden floor, reveling in the chill that coursed through his body and the shafts of light that fell on his face. As the adrenaline and terror flushed out of his system he tried to remember what exactly he had been dreaming about, but only came up with a vague feeling of dread. The boy sat up, rubbed his face roughly to shake off the remaining feelings, and then stopped abruptly.

_I should be dead._

Slowly, the boy lowered his hands and raised azure eyes to find his apartment waiting innocently for him in the sunlight.

_I killed Sasuke. I was dying. There's no way I recovered from that. Even if I had, this place was destroyed in Pein's attack four years ago…_

Naruto carefully stood, took a mental check of his body, and came up short. Literally.

_The hell?_

The blond definitely _wasn't_ his current six foot height. In fact, he seemed to be a mere four feet and nine inches (he'd gotten better over the years at estimating things like that), but the last time he was that height… Naruto darted to his bathroom.

_No way._

His face contorted in horror to see his skinny little twelve year old butt in the mirror. But something was off (besides the fact that he was twelve). _Okay, I _know _I didn't have much strength when I was twelve. So what the hell is this?_ The blond took off his shirt and found hardened muscle beneath. _There's no way. I wasn't this strong when I was twelve!_ He glanced back at the mirror and saw a note attached to it. _That wasn't there before._ After a suspicious glance around, the blond snatched it down and read.

_I thought you might like to have all of your current powers, so I tried to merge this body with your older one. I think it came out pretty good, don't you?_

_Cheers,_

_Loki_

Naruto stared at the paper in his hands, then set it down on the bathroom counter. That old woman who had come to him on the battlefield… He had thought she was a dream, something made up by his mind to help him cope with death. But the more he thought about it, the less likely it seemed; what kind of subconscious would remind him of his greatest regrets right before death?

_I wanted to fix it all. She said she could do that, but… By what, sending me back in time?_ He took another peak at the mirror. Yep, still twelve._ That's not possible. This can't be real._

On that thought, Naruto put his hands together, pushed chakra through his entire body, and shouted "Kai!" but nothing happened.

_That doesn't mean anything. Some genjutsu are more powerful than others, meaning that the generic technique won't work, but since I don't know any other jutsu to get out of one, this could be a problem…_

The blond sighed. This was going to be a long day.

After taking a peak outside and finding a normal Konohanian day taking place, the boy decided to play along with whatever this was, figuring it couldn't hurt to see how things spelled out. After digging around for a toothbrush and toothpaste—he couldn't believe how _filthy _the place was—Naruto brushed his teeth, finger-combed his hair, and threw on his old orange jumpsuit. _Man, I'd forgotten what this thing looked like._ After looking around for his ninja headband and only coming up with his old goggles, he realized this 'time' must be before he graduated, meaning he'd be going to the Academy today.

_Well damn. Back to school? What's the date?_ The boy dropped the verdant goggles back on the table and glanced at the grubby ramen calendar pinned to the wall. _Today's the Graduation Exam, huh? Well, I decided to play along, so… _Naruto didn't bother taking the door—he had long ago booby-trapped it to keep drunks, thieves, and pedofiles out of his apartment—but instead leapt out of the window, making his way to the Academy.

When he got there, he made his way to one of the seats in the room and started doodling idly with his finger. He already knew the test was on the Clone Jutsu, but he was wondering if he should use shadow clones or fail it on purpose. I_f I use Shadow Clones they'll notice and ask me how I know it. I could always just say I saw someone else doing it, but… If I don't fail this, Mizuki will never reveal himself to be a traitor._

"Uzumaki Naruto."

The boy made a face and rose from his seat, following Iruka to the next room. As his teacher sat down Naruto sighed and put his hands together. _Time to fail. Again._ Performing the seal of the Ram, Naruto attempted to create a normal clone, though he didn't succeed. Tsunade had long-ago explained that the sheer enormity of the Kyuubi's chakra and the fact that it was mixed with his own caused too much instability to make a simple illusion, but the more complex and energy-sucking Shadow Clone Jutsu was well within his realm of usable techniques.

Iruka sighed in defeat and put a hand over his face. "Fail."

"Iruka-sensei, this _is_ the third time he has taken this test. And, well, _technically_ he did create a clone, right? We could let him pass," Mizuki said, glancing at the young student with a smile.

Naruto concealed a sneer and let hope light his face instead. _Yeah, you suck up. Make me think you're the greatest thing ever._

Iruka sighed again, "No, we can't let him pass with such a poor performance. Even if it _is_ his third time. He'll just have to work harder for next year's exam."

Naruto managed to contort his face convincingly into anger at the decision and left the room, slamming the door behind him. He walked out to the tree swing by the Academy entrance and sat, gently rocking back and forth. As he watched parents congratulate their children on their graduation, Naruto caught snatches of conversation he hadn't before.

"_Hey, that's 'the' kid. Isn't he the only who failed?"_

"_Yeah. Good thing, too. We can't have him becoming a shinobi."_

"_Right, since he's—"_

"_Shh! We can't talk about that! We'll get in huge trouble!"_

The blond scowled as the two women moved on to other topics. _Stupid adults. You don't have any idea what you're talking about. Wait until Pein attacks the village, see how much you want to stop me from being a shinobi then._

Tuning out the rest of the conversations, Naruto waited. He saw the Hokage standing beside Iruka, and his heart stuttered. _Old Man… I miss you._ The blond sighed and shook the thoughts off. _Focus, Naruto. Play along until you can get some idea of what this is and what to do about it. That means paying attention and getting Mizuki to reveal himself._ Naruto scowled again. He wouldn't let that damn traitor hurt Iruka-sensei this time. He'd take care of it before his teacher got there.

Naruto pretended not to notice that Mizuki was watching him and proceeded to get up, headed back to his apartment. A few moments later—

"Naruto."

The blond allowed himself a smirk. _Right on time._

"Mizuki-sensei!" the blond cried, spinning around and planting a look of surprise on his face.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

Naruto sat against the base of a tree in the forest, one arm draped over the Scroll of Sealing, waiting. The blond had made twenty shadow clones as soon as he had obtained the scroll, sent them running in all directions, and then dissipated them before heading for the meeting place, hoping the other ninja sent after him would be stuck following the phony trails long enough for the boy to confront his traitorous teacher. He had figured since he wasn't supposed to know the Shadow Clone Jutsu yet it would be best not to allow anyone to see his clones until after the fight with Mizuki, but that didn't stop him from henge-ing them into different people and letting them run amuck across the village with his chakra. He grinned at his ingeniousness.

The boy was pulled out of his musings when felt a tug on one of the trip wires he had in his hand and smirked. _Show time._

The blond stood and pushed the scroll safely behind him, resting it against the trunk, before turning to face in the direction of Konoha.

Mizuki suddenly appeared on a tree branch on the other side of the small clearing, sporting two giant shuriken strapped to his back and a plethora of other weapons in his kunai pouch.

The traitorous ninja sneered, "Naruto, give me the scroll."

The boy shook his head, "No."

Mizuki's eyes widened madly and his sneer grew to insane proportions; if the boy wasn't going out easy, then it was time for his trump card. "Do you remember the sealing of the demon fox twelve years ago?" he asked. "Ever since that incident a new rule was created for this village. But Naruto, this rule was never meant to be told to you. The rule is that—"

"No one can talk about the fact that the demon fox is sealed in me, right?" At Mizuki's surprised and ticked off face, Naruto laughed, "Yeah, I figured that one out a long time ago. It can get really hard to concentrate sometimes when you've got a giant demonic tenant in your stomach talking incessantly about ways he'll torture you when he finds a way to get out."

The traitorous chuunin snarled, frustrated that the brat had stolen his thunder, "It doesn't matter! I'll still kill you and take the scroll!" The man rushed forward, snapping a giant shuriken out of its holster and prepping it to be thrown at the young blond.

"Oh, but it does matter," Naruto muttered under his breath. When the silver-haired man got about halfway across the clearing, Naruto seemed to vanish and reappear directly behind him, grabbing the arm holding the weapon and twisting it viciously sideways. The shuriken-on-steroids fell to the ground and Mizuki screamed as his limb snapped in three places.

_Can't use chakra, otherwise the ANBU will identify it as mine. Simple taijutsu, here I come._ Naruto punched Mizuki in the face, effectively turning the injured man's scream into a groan, then kicked him in the groin. As he doubled over, the blond gave him a knee to the face, making him vertical again, and a kick to the chest, sending him crashing into the abandoned shack nearby. The man struggled to sit up, but Naruto was on him again in an instant, grabbing the front of his uniform and rearing an arm back, hitting him across the left side of his face.

The blond let go of the traitor's clothes and applied a roundhouse kick to his head as he stumbled, sending him spinning to the ground. The blond cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders, allowing the silver-haired chuunin to recover from the shock of a mere twelve year old holding this kind of power.

_Because,_ Naruto figured, _where's the fun in beating the traitor to a pulp if he doesn't fight back?_

Mizuki stood, wiped the blood off his face with his good hand, stared at it in wonder, then turned to face Naruto. The blond could practically see the question written on the man's forehead: 'since when was he this good?' The twelve year old chuckled.

"Come on, _Mizuki-sensei_, I thought you were going to kill me and take the scroll? Are you really afraid of some child who couldn't even pass the _genin_ test?" The boy sighed tragically, "You're only a pathetic coward, I suppose."

The chuunin's eyes narrowed and his lips twisted into a snarl, "Like hell! You just got lucky! Now you're going to die!" The man jumped back while simultaneously throwing a handful of kunai at the blond, who hit the ground just in time for the weapons to pass overhead. When Mizuki's face lit up in sick glee, Naruto knew something was up; he racked his brain for what in the world the man could have up his sleeve and gulped.

_Explosive tags._

The twelve year old scrambled forward on all fours, realized he wouldn't make it, and sent a mass of chakra through his legs to boost him into the air. The explosion that followed rocked the forest and sent Naruto hurtling through the night sky.

_Guess it doesn't matter about using chakra now that everyone knows where we are._ The blond's instincts screamed at him and he snapped the first two fingers of both hands into a cross to make a shadow clone; he switched places with it and sent himself back to earth in a controlled fall, leaving the clone to vanish in a barrage of shuriken and kunai.

The blond tracked the direction the weapons came from and sped towards the area. _He's a fool. It's too easy to follow weapons._ Naruto's eyes widened as he heard a branch snap next to him; _how did Mizuki mask his chakra so well?_ The boy bit back a pained cry as a kunai was shoved into his ribs, but managed to throw an elbow into his attacker's face. Mizuki grunted and let go of the weapon, intending to jump back, but he found his wrist was caught in an iron grip.

Naruto grinned, "Time to open a can of whoop-ass." The boy kicked his enemy under the chin, sending the man a few feet into the air, then jumped into the sky as four of his clones kicked Mizuki even higher.

"U!"

"ZU!"

"MA!"

"KI!"

The four vanished, leaving Naruto poised above Mizuki, leg raised over the man's chest.

His grin widened and he shouted with obvious enjoyment, "Naruto Rendan!"

The silver-haired traitor was sent hurtling to the ground and his landing resulted in a small crater surrounded by a cloud of dust.

Naruto touched down beside him, waited for the dust to settle, and moved forward. Blood ran out of the man's mouth and nose and his eyes were glazed over, but the blond found a pulse and realized he had merely been knocked out. _Good, good. I didn't want to kill him, just beat him to a pulp._

Naruto straightened and looked around to find they had ended up back in the clearing with the now-broken shack. _Other ninjas will probably be here soon. I should come up with a good explanation…_ The blond went and picked up the Scroll of Sealing and strapped it to his back, then turned and created a clone. He allowed it to look him over, then dissipated it, thus gaining all of its knowledge and experience. _Good, I look like hell, which means they'll probably believe me, although that kunai will freak them out._ The boy pulled the weapon out of his ribs with a hiss and sent some of the Kyuubi's untainted golden chakra to heal it. _Oh, didn't know that was still the same. That's good, though. Means I don't have to bother with asking the damn fox for chakra or feel my skin burning off when I use too much._ He snorted.

"N-Naruto? What's going on?"

The blond jerked his eyes up to see his brown-haired teacher gazing in amazement at the burning trees and broken body of Mizuki. _Shit._

"Iruka-sensei! Mizuki-sen—Mizuki told—he was—he tried to kill me!" the boy stuttered, trying to figure out what to say first.

"What do you mean he was trying to kill you? Mizuki-sensei wouldn't do that, Naruto."

The blond pouted, "He did! He told me if I could get this scroll and learn a jutsu from it that you would have to let me pass the genin exam, but when he got here he started throwing shuriken at me and saying he was going to take the scroll! So I made shadow clones and beat him up, 'cause no one else was here to help."

Iruka was silent. _Mizuki… Just what were you thinking? Naruto wouldn't lie about something like that; he's a prankster, but he's got a good heart…_ The man took in Naruto's blood-stained and disheveled appearance and decided that, at least for now, he would take the boy's word for it. But that left other things to take care of.

Iruka's voice was low and urgent as he said to the blond, "Naruto, other ninja are going to be here soon and they're going to want explanations and demonstrations. I want you to stay beside me and only do as I tell you, okay?"

Naruto nodded and stepped up to his Academy teacher.

… Just in time, as a four-man cell of masked ANBU immediately surrounded the two. One with a cat mask took a single step forward, the action identifying him as the leader of the group.

"Iruka, what is the meaning of"—he gestured at the devastation around them—"this?"

"Mizuki-sen—no, _Mizuki_"—the traitor didn't deserve the title, or the respect that came with it—"was trying to steal the Scroll of Sealing; he used Naruto to get to it first, and then he planned to kill Naruto and take the scroll for himself. He told Naruto that should he learn a jutsu from the scroll and show it to me, then I would have to let him pass the genin exam, which is why Naruto took the scroll in the first place." He paused, thinking, _Sure as hell hope I'm right about that_. "When he came here, he started attacking Naruto, so Naruto fought back." Iruka waved his hand at the blacked out chuunin, "Mizuki obviously underestimated Naruto and lost."

Throughout the explanation, the Cat Man (as Naruto had instantly dubbed him) had been silent, but as the last part was said, he spoke up. Naruto could hear the sneer in his voice as he said, "A child who couldn't pass the genin exam beat up his chuunin-level teacher? I find that hard to believe, Iruka." He turned his creepy masked face to Naruto, "And how, exactly, did you defeat him?"

The blond narrowed his eyes, _Of course you're a skeptic. Especially when it's ME who beat him up. You just want an excuse to get me in trouble…_ After glancing at Iruka to see if it was alright to answer, he said, "I used the Shadow Clone Jutsu from the scroll."

"_Shadow clones?_"

_Here we go..._

"That is _highly_ unlikely, _especially_ for someone below genin level. Can you prove it?" There was a note of triumph in the man's voice.

_He doesn't think I can; he thinks he's got me beat! I'll prove him._ Mental Naruto rubbed his hands together and cackled evilly, though his physical body simply looked again to his teacher for approval. He got it.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Two hundred Narutos suddenly populated the clearing, each shouting "Yeah" or "That's right!" or "How about that, you as—" Naruto scrambled for a moment, then dissipated them before they caused him more trouble; they never could keep their mouths shut.

Each of the ANBU remained silent and seemingly stoic, but to Naruto's experienced eye they seemed suddenly much more edgy. _Heh, that's right. Be afraid._

Cat Man forcefully relaxed his posture and turned his masked face to Naruto, "That still doesn't prove the rest of your story. Why should we believe you?"

The blond boy opened his mouth to shoot out some choice expletives, tired of being disrespected by someone he could beat with both hands tied behind his back, but his teacher cut in, saying, "You can take Mizuki in for interrogation while I take Naruto to the Hokage. I think _he_ should settle this, don't you?" Iruka's voice was dangerously pleasant.

Naruto saw Cat Man stiffen again, although this time it seemed to indicate anger rather than anxiety. "Very well." He turned to Bird Man and Raccoon Lady and nodded, which Naruto supposed had to be code for 'get that piece of filth off the ground and drag him to Ibiki' since that was exactly how the two ANBU treated Mizuki.

Iruka turned to his student, "Let's go, Naruto. Follow me to the Hokage-sama's office."

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

Naruto yawned as he exited the Hokage Tower and pushed his new hitai-ate into his pocket with a frown. _I'm glad the Old Man decided to graduate me, but it's weird not having my old beat-up headplate…_ The boy paused, then grinned, _Guess I'll just have to train a lot to give it experience._ Naruto sighed and looked to the sky. _It's nearly dawn. I had the sense to eat dinner before my fight this time around, but I'm still hungry. Where would be a good place for breakfast today?_

Naruto grinned widely.

"_RAMEN!_"

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

"You are dismissed. Iruka, you stay; I need to talk to you."

The brown-haired teacher paused in following Naruto, then pivoted and returned to stand at attention before the Hokage.

"Iruka… I saw the fight between Mizuki and Naruto." The older man's eyes pierced Iruka's. "Naruto lied to you."

Iruka blinked in confusion and opened his mouth, "He… He wouldn't lie about something like that!"

Sarutobi watched the younger man's face attentively for a moment, then spoke again. "He did not lie about his reasons for the fight or Mizuki's plans, but he did lie about using shadow clones alone to defeat him. Naruto took down his former teacher with advanced taijutsu, with only minimal help from clones. Did you teach him?"

The brown-haired teacher shook his head mutely.

The Hokage sat down and rubbed his face, troubled. "I don't know where he learned any of this... I want you to keep an eye on him. I will let Naruto's team leader know about it." He sighed, "You are dismissed, Iruka. Go get some sleep."

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

Read and review please. 8]

Oh, and sorry if there are mistakes. I read it twenty-some times, but I'm sure I missed something. x.x Thanks for reading anyways! And putting up with slow updates.


	3. Meeting the Team

PLEASE FORGIVE ME! I'm so sorry it's taken me this long to update the story. I had writer's block, and there was schoolwork and yada, yada, yada. I really will try to get these up faster, but that may not really happen until school is out. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Oh, and sorry if there are typos, etc. I try to weed them out, but I don't always get all of them. ^^

And, of course, I cannot currently log into my account. -.- This'll go up as soon as I can.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

**Chapter Three: Meeting the Team**

_THOK! THOK!_

_CRRACK._

Naruto shook the pain out of his bandaged knuckles and stopped the timer with the other hand. _Damn. My speed has dropped. That's twelve seconds slower than last time…_ He groaned. _It'll take so long to get back that time!_ He tucked the timer back in his pocket and spun, surveying his work; shattered training dummies he had stolen from the Academy storage unit littered the dirt field; some trees had taken a beating during his warm up, leaving wounds in the bark from his kicks and punches. Deep craters dotted the area where the boy had exercised minimally with his Rasengan: he was afraid anything more than a small one would bring ninja wondering where the high chakra levels were coming from and he didn't want too much attention until he could figure out what to do about apparently being in the past.

Naruto sighed at his predicament and started his circuit around the field for the second time that day. After asking Kakashi to fix the dummies for the ninth time in past/future training, his silver-haired teacher had shown him the seal on the dummies' bases where, if one channeled chakra into it, the dummies would reassemble so long as the thing hadn't been turned to dust. As he fixed the poor mutilated wooden men, Naruto went over the past two days, starting with the one after he defeated Mizuki. Getting his ninja picture taken this time hadn't been a problem, as he had forgone the crazy make-up due to his unwillingness to have to redo the photo. Konohamaru had busted in and, yet again, tripped over his own scarf. Naruto had forgotten how annoying the boy had been at that age. That day he had kept the same, because he was afraid if he changed anything then Konohamaru would remain a spoiled brat. He had enjoyed making the closet pervert (a.k.a. Ebisu) nosebleed again. He laughed at the memory, but stopped short at the next event.

Seeing Sasuke again had first sent him into shock and then left him with a roiling stomach of emotions. He had had to remind himself that this was probably a genjutsu, which meant this Sasuke wasn't real, that none of it was real. But it didn't help. Every time he saw Sasuke, anything from anger to relief to guilt would grip his heart, which was making being on a team difficult and had so far given him nightmares about the night he killed the boy's older and more twisted version.

Naruto shook himself free of the thoughts and went over what had actually happened rather than how he felt. The first day, when the teams and leaders were announced, he had thankfully avoided a repeat of that awful kiss with Sasuke, saving them both the embarrassment and Naruto the subsequent beating from fan girls. He had also paid more attention to the teams this time, and had sighed in relief when they were still the same; if this was-however unlikely-the real past, then that was one thing he didn't want to change. Team leaders were also the same, but he hadn't really expected anything less. Naruto ran the 'first' timeline against the 'second', and realized he hadn't impersonated Sasuke to get close to Sakura, but he _had_ set another eraser-falls-on-head trap for Kakashi, which Naruto just hadn't had the heart to change. Their little 'get to know each other' talk had pretty much gone the same, although Naruto had changed his answers to include things other than ramen and only rolled his eyes when Sakura said she hated him.

_And that brings us to today._ Naruto knew Kakashi wouldn't get to the training field until ten, so when he got up he had promptly created his personalized training field; there was no way he was going to drop practice when there was a high likelihood this was a genjutsu, and even if it turned out to be the real past, he certainly didn't plan on getting any weaker.

The twelve-year-old looked at the sky, noting the position of the sun. _Almost ten. I should go soon._ With all the dummies repaired, Naruto did cool down stretches and then started for the designated training field at a leisurely walk.

Colorful stalls lined either side of the street-some of them issuing steam from grills-and vendors hawked their wares for all to hear. The streets were getting a little more crowded as mothers did their shopping for the day, their children darting playfully between legs, but there was still a comfortable space between people. Naruto bought some ice cream from a man who had just opened shop, told the man to keep the change, and turned to keep walking down the path when he spotted Kakashi going the same direction. He grinned and started forward, but nearly tripped over a little kid who flashed out in front of him.

"Woah, woah!" The boy regained his balance quickly and snatched the back of the kid's shirt, stopping the girl from falling flat on her face. He grinned down at her cheerfully and asked, "Hey, you okay?"

The girl's brown eyes widened as she hugged a battered ragdoll to her chest and nodded mutely. Naruto took in her tattered gray dress and immediately deduced her parents were very poor, but she wasn't homeless, as her skinny yet healthy frame showed. He found himself automatically scanning for signs of abuse and, seeing none, mentally sighed in relief; he never could tolerate abusive parents.

The girl's fearful eyes caught hold of his ice cream and remained riveted to it. She extended a hand slightly but, seeming to realize what she was doing, pulled it back in embarrassment and pushed soft black hair from her face instead. Naruto glanced between her and his ice cream and chuckled, then held it out to her. "Here, you can have it. I'm not supposed to have it anyways." He winked conspiratorially at her and she returned a tentative smile, taking hold of the waffle cone. She turned around and grinned at a woman standing one stall over. The woman, who could only be the girl's mother, looked first at the treat, then at Naruto. He felt his face dropping as fear registered on her face and prepared for the harsh words to ensue, but the woman simply bit her lip for a moment and then called for her daughter to come along.

_That was… Different than I expected. I thought no one trusted me when I was twelve._ The boy shrugged the thought off and scanned for Kakashi in the crowd. Seeing him, Naruto made his way carefully and politely through the throng, maneuvering himself to walk beside his teacher. Kakashi glanced sideways at the boy, taking his eyes off his precious book in surprise. "Shouldn't you be at training field four?" he asked.

"Shouldn't you?" Naruto retorted, unconcerned.

The man raised an eyebrow at the answer but smirked slightly beneath his mask; already one of his students was breaking the rules. "Well, you see, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way around to avoid bad luck."

The twelve-year-old grinned, "And an old woman asked me for directions, but I worried for her safety and decided to escort her to her destination."

Kakashi chuckled silently at the boy's excellent excuse, "I guess we'll just have to hope your teammates forgive us our tardiness."

Naruto grinned, "Oh, they won't know I'm late until I get there. I sent a shadow clone in my stead in case you arrived before I got there, but it looks like it was an unnecessary precaution."

Kakashi said nothing, apparently absorbed in his book, but secretly thinking about the mysteries developing around Naruto. _First the taijutsu, now the calm and intelligent demeanor? I like to judge for myself, but there's got to be __**some**__ truth to what people say about someone, especially when everyone says the same thing. I was told you were an energetic idiot, Naruto. But in a few short days you've changed. Was it a front? A way to deal with being alone?_ Kakashi's face darkened considerably, _And what about that note the Hokage-sama and I found in your bathroom? About merging bodies, signed by someone called Loki…_

Naruto didn't mind the silence and simply watched the people around him, a pastime he had found valuable in fighting off darker thoughts. The boy sighed when they reached the gates to the training field and dissipated his clone upon seeing it. Sasuke and Sakura looked up, surprised, as the dead last and their jounin teacher walked side-by-side onto the field, both late.

"What-what was that? Wait a second; that was a clone?" she asked, glancing at the still visible cloud of smoke for a moment before returning confused eyes to the real Naruto. "Since when could you make those?"

Naruto grinned at her confusion; it was so refreshing to get one over on the girl, even if she _was_ eight years his younger in experience.

"Since three nights ago, actually. And it wasn't just an illusion, either," he grinned, linking his hands behind his head and enjoying the sweet moments of superiority. When he glanced at Sasuke and found the boy had turned on full death-glare mode, Naruto laughed. "Are you that pissed about us being late? Come on, you didn't think the famous Kakashi would show up on time, did you?" The spiky-haired boy gestured to his teacher with his chin, "All he ever does is read those porn books written by Ero-sen-uh, the Sannin Jiraiya. And me? I'm never where I'm supposed to be, remember? I'm the _dead last_." Naruto actually relished the last two words, finding the irony rather enjoyable.

As Kakashi watched the spectacle, a seed of tension grew in his stomach and he began really cataloguing every move Naruto made. _The Hokage-sama said the genin weren't told about any potential jounin senseis, but here Naruto already knows several things about me that he shouldn't. He slipped up on something about Jiraiya, like he had some sort of nickname for him, and why does he sound like he _enjoys_ being dead last?_

Sasuke's face contorted with anger and he opened his mouth, whether to speak or spit fireballs was anyone's guess, because at that moment Kakashi snapped his book shut, tucked it away, and pulled out his two bells.

"Listen up now, you three," he said, setting his backpack down and pulling out the two lunches and the clock from inside. "This clock will go off at noon. Before it does, your task is to take these two bells from me. Only those who get a bell will get lunch, and those who don't will be tied to one of those stumps"-he waved behind him-"and I will eat right in front of them. Not only that, but those who do not retrieve a bell will fail the test and will most certainly be sent back to the Academy."

"Back to the Acadamy? After all we went through already?" Sakura shouted. "And there are only two bells, so one of us will definitely fail, right?" she asked, panic in her voice at the prospect of losing Sasuke as her teammate.

The silver-haired jounin looked at her coolly, "That's right, Sakura. If you can't get a bell, then you don't deserve to be a ninja yet."

The pink-haired girl gulped and wiped her suddenly sweaty palms on her shorts, _It's going to be me, isn't it? I could never hope to beat Sasuke, and Naruto has much more energy than I do. I can't compete with either of them._

Naruto could see Sakura's despair clearly etched on her face and felt her confidence deteriorating rapidly, but if his plan was going to go into effect, he couldn't let that happen.

"So, what, you're saying I'm going to fail, huh?" he challenged, face contorted into indignant anger. "I'm dead last, right? You think I don't deserve to be a ninja? You think Sasuke's so great cause he's got Uchiha blood running through him and he scored the highest in ninjutsu, and Sakura scored top of the class in tactics and information, so they're both shoe-ins for the spots, right? But I'm just dead last, and all I've got going for me is my energy." He grinned evilly, eyes narrowing, "But you know what, I'm going to get one of those bells, and if I can do it, then anyone can. I'm going to prove this test is easy, you hear?" Naruto pumped his fist in the air, "I'm going to be Hokage someday! Believe it!"

Kakashi listened through Naruto's speech, eyeing the twelve-year-old's teammates to see how they reacted. Sasuke looked ticked at the Uchiha remark, but smirked as the words went on and shifted slightly, showing his now barely contained eagerness for battle. Sakura was surprised that Naruto even knew she was the top of the class and blushed at the compliments, then began to straighten and stand, showing her regained self-confidence. Kakashi returned his gaze to the grinning orange-clad boy in front of him, _Not only did you know exactly what to say to assure your teammates this would be an easy win, but you infected them with your energy and excitement for the mission. Well done. But where did you learn such subtle social skills, I wonder?_ He shook the thoughts off and said, "Well. How about we get started, then? Ready. Set. Go."

All three genin vanished from the spot, leaving only small dust clouds in their wakes. Kakashi searched the surrounding forest with his senses, finding Sakura concealing her chakra quite well for a beginner and nearly missing Sasuke. But where was Naruto? He widened his senses further, almost out a mile, before he pulled back to the immediate area and decided to wait for the boy to reveal himself. Instead, he called out, "Very good hiding, but don't think you'll beat me with just that. You have to attack me some time, and unless you want to fail, you better come at me with the intent to kill." Kakashi felt Sakura's chakra spike a bit in shock and fear and he debated between a smile and a sigh of defeat and eventually compromised by doing both. _You'll have to overcome your fear of killing sooner rather than later, Sakura._

Naruto maneuvered himself carefully a few yards behind Sakura, then called her name out softly. "Sakura… Sakura, turn around." When she didn't respond, the boy waited until Kakashi started speaking again, to cover his own voice and explain Sakura's chakra spike, and hissed out, "Hey, Uchiha fan girl!"

The red-clad kunoichi whipped her head around, shocked, and would have shouted had Naruto not placed a hand gently but firmly over her mouth. "Shh, don't give us away. Follow me," he whispered in her ear, then headed back the way he had come. After a minute he stopped beneath an old oak, leaned against its trunk, and waited for her to get out of the tunnel of foliage.

She looked curious, but spit out her customary annoyed, "What do you want, Naruto?", then crossed her arms over her chest and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

_Haha, she only gets sassier with age. She's got a long way to go,_ Naruto thought. "Just wait a second, I only want to explain this once."

The pink-haired girl leaned forward and opened her mouth to ask just what was he talking about when another orange-clad Naruto appeared, practically dragging a ticked off Sasuke behind him. The clone disappeared in a silent puff and the original Naruto stepped forward.

"Alright, now that you're both here, let's get started," he said, looking each of his teammates in the eyes. He paused, pretending like he was waiting for something obvious, then asked in disbelief, "You do get what the point of this test is, right?"

The two glanced at each other, Sakura with confusion, Sasuke with a guarded expression, and Naruto sighed in exasperation. "Come _on_ you two. Two bells? Three teammates?"

The Uchiha prodigy huffed; he was growing tired of this game, "If you're so enlightened why don't you just _tell_ us, moron?"

Naruto checked his sparking anger and merely rolled his eyes, "You really don't get it? One of us is supposed to sacrifice ourselves for our teammates. You know, like on a _real_ mission."

Sasuke frowned, "That… Sounds plausible, but..." He glanced suspiciously at the blond, "Are you sure? How'd you figure it out?"

Sakura glanced between the two, then tentatively said, "It does kinda make sense, but I've never heard of a test like that."

Naruto nodded, "Trust me, it's what this is about. I…"-he scrambled a moment for a lie-"I've kinda been spying on the jounin lounge and on the Old Man since the graduation exam, because I wanted to know who our sensei was going to be. I overheard the Old Man talking to some other jounin about Kakashi-sensei. From the way they talk about him, that's probably what this test is about: protecting your teammates." He could see them beginning to accept his words and decided to keep explaining, "There are only two bells, which is meant to push us from each other, but what he really means for us to do is use teamwork, even if one of us has to sacrifice the one thing we've been working towards for years."

"But that's so brutal. Why would he expect us to do that?" Sakura asked, shaking her head.

Naruto lowered his eyes. "It's a long story. Something happened in his past. But it's not my place to say. Let's just focus on how we're going to get those bells. We can decide who gets the bells afterwards."

_Why isn't he his normal loud and stupid self?_ Sasuke squinted his eyes in suspicion, but simply sighed and said, "What skills do we have at our disposal? Sakura?"

"Um… I…" She blushed and looked down, twirling her hair with her finger, "I can… Um…"

Naruto rolled his eyes, _Really. You need to grow up._ "She's smart and has perfect chakra control. I've got pretty much limitless energy and can make thousands of shadow clones. You've got your powerful fire jutsus and best taijutsu in our class. Anything else to add?"

Sakura stared in shocked silence and Sasuke's suspicions grew. "That about sums it up, I think," he said. The raven-haired teen then glanced from one teammate to the other, "Ideas?"

Naruto flopped down to sit on the roots of the oak he had been leaning against and grinned, "I've got one. But we'll have to do a tiny bit of practice to make it work best, Sasuke. Do either of you have ideas?"

Sakura looked uneasily at the two, "I… don't really think I can do anything to help you two." She looked down and stood very still, "I'm useless in a fight."

Naruto looked-rather comically-appalled, "Useless? You are not! You're actually very helpful in my plan. Speaking of that," he turned to his other teammate, "if there aren't any other ideas, are you ready to practice for it, Sasuke?

Sasuke just stared at him, "First of all, what's the plan?"

Naruto grinned widely and pumped his fist in the air, "Full-on frontal assault!"

The blue-clad Uchiha rolled his eyes and immediately started walking back the way he had been dragged, "That's the worst plan I've ever heard of. You suck at fighting, Naruto. And no offense, Sakura, but your skills could use some work too. I'll get a bell on my own."

Naruto waggled a finger at the boy's retreating form, "Ah, ah, ah, you haven't even fought me yet! It'll only take a minute to show you why my plan will work."

Sasuke paused and turned back to look at his blond teammate in disbelief, "You think you can even last a few seconds in a fight with me? You're out of your mind."

"Are you sure about that?" Naruto asked, an evil glint in his eyes. "Because I bet I could last much, much longer."

Sasuke watched him for a moment, debating. He smirked and spit out a 'Fine!', then leapt at his teammate, right arm swinging forward to hit the other boy's face.

Sakura squeeked at the sudden movement, but then clamped her hands over her mouth, embarrassed. _You're a ninja, Sakura! Stop acting like a scared little girl. Kakashi-sensei will find us!_

Naruto's left hand flowed up from his side and deflected Sasuke's punch with what looked like a gentle push to the raven-haired boy's forearm. Sasuke's left leg came up in a roundhouse kick at Naruto's right-side ribs, but the blond curled his forearm up and dropped his arm slightly to block it, then spun with the attack, softening the impact greatly. He laughed in delight.

Sasuke's eyes twitched in anger and he leapt back and into the air, intending to turn the annoying boy into a pin cushion with shuriken, but Naruto grinned and leapt with him, seeming to know exactly what the Uchiha was thinking. The blond threw out a punch of his own, but Sasuke moved his head to the side automatically. His brows furrowed in confusion, _I didn't plan on doing that. Why did I know he was going to throw that punch?_ His right arm came up in another automatic defense. _What's going on?_

The two pushed off against each other, flipped in the air, and landed on branches across from each other. Sasuke paused, staying where he was, and Naruto stood, grinning.

"You've noticed it, right? Your body knew what I was going to do next and automatically moved itself. Mine does the same thing. I don't know why it is, but we fit seamlessly in a fight." He sat down now, legs dangling over the limb, "This is why my plan will work. If you and I attack him together, as part of a team, we can probably keep him occupied long enough for one of the three of us to grab the bells. How about it?"

Sasuke eyed the blond for a moment, then glanced at Sakura, who was watching the two with shock on her face. _How did he know about this? I've never fought him before…_ He looked back at Naruto, suspicions in his mind growing, _Something is weird about this. But I can figure it out later; right now we need to get those bells. His plan is plausible, so I guess we might as well try it._

"Fine, we can go through with your plan. But if it doesn't work then I'm getting a bell on my own, got that?" he said, narrowing his eyes at his blond teammate, in full death-glare mode.

Naruto grinned and jumped to the ground, then mock bowed, "Yes, oh High and Mighty Uchiha." Sasuke's brow twitched at the name, but jumped he to the ground anyways and stood with his teammates.

"Alright! Sakura, you come out to the field with us and take any openings you see to get the bells while we fight with him. Let's go!"

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

_Interesting… How did you _really_ learn about this test, Naruto? I know the Hokage never spoke of it to anyone. And if you had been to the jounin lounge, you would know it has jutsus on it to stop eavesdroppers. So where did you get all this information?_ Kakashi watched and listened to his three students' 'secret meeting', sitting within the higher branches of one of the trees near them. He was becoming increasingly worried about Naruto's sudden change. _Why are you still hiding your chakra, Naruto? And why are you so good at it?_ _I suppose…_ He thought about it a minute, _Yes, it must be a defense mechanism you've developed over the years to deal with the villagers._ He chuckled, _Most ninja pass you by when you hide after a prank. This must be why._

The silver-haired jounin tensed when Naruto mentioned the jounin's past and his thoughts darkened, _You definitely shouldn't know about that._ He logged it for later consideration and watched the two boys' fight, interested in the way it seemed more like a choreographed dance than a battle. Yet Naruto was still concealing his chakra, which meant every single movement he made was completely done by pure muscle. _I was told by Iruka that you were lowest in the class in taijutsu-everything, actually-so where did all your new skill come from?_

As the three left, Naruto looked in Kakashi's direction and the older man had the distinct feeling the blond had known he was there the whole time. It was just a hunch, but he added it to his growing list of things to mention to the Hokage when they spoke later concerning Naruto's changes.

_I suppose I should go meet them in the clearing..._ He vanished in a blur, making his quick way to the field and pulling out his book to give the semblance of boredom.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

_You have to hold back, Naruto. No flashy moves, no jutsus except the Shadow Clone Jutsu, and absolutely no grins! Act like you're having difficulty. Oh, and…_ Naruto turned to Sasuke and Sakura and grinned sheepishly, "Can you two claim the credit for figuring out the point of the test?"

Sakura blinked in surprise, "But why? I mean, if you're really this smart, people will start to look up to you a lot more. Don't you want that?"

Naruto was distinctly aware of Sasuke's observant gaze as he shrugged and answered nonchalantly, "I've gotta keep up appearances, of course! And who would think I had figured it out anyways? It's easier this way. Less questions, which means less wasted time on them!"

Sakura looked uncertainly to her other teammate, "Sasuke? What do you think?"

The Uchiha shrugged, "If he wants to keep looking like a complete moron and give us credit for it, let him. It's his reputation."

"But that's not-"

"Thanks Sasuke! C'mon, Sakura, just give up on this one. It's time to fight anyways!" Naruto shouted, and he burst from the tree line into the field where his teacher waited.

"YOU!" he shouted, pointing at Kakashi and putting his other hand on his hip. "You're going down!"

Kakashi watched with a raised brow at his orange-clad student, and suppressed a chuckle as his other two students slunk angrily out of the trees, embarrassed by the blond's antics.

"Oh, you finally decided to stop hiding and actually do something? Good," Kakashi said, not even glancing up at the three. Pure instinct saved him from a sweep at his legs by Sasuke and a punch from his left by Naruto. He threw his book in the air in surprise at their speed and grabbed Naruto's fist, throwing him overhead as he stopped Sasuke's sweep by aiming to step on the boy's leg. Sasuke flipped onto his stomach and held himself with his hands as he redirected his kick up towards Kakashi's chin. Naruto-from his position halfway over Kakashi's head-used the silver-haired man's arm as leverage and kicked at the back of his teacher's neck. Sakura appeared from the sidelines and extended a hand for the bells at Kakashi's waist.

Kakashi first grabbed Sasuke's foot and whipped in a quick circle to grab Naruto's, then threw both surprised students off to the side. He turned to grab Sakura's arm, as well, but found a Naruto clone in his grip instead: Sakura sat surprised on the ground, having been pushed out of harm's way by the clone. The clone winked and locked an iron grip on Kakashi's right arm, then tried to fling Kakashi's leg out from under him.

Kakashi grabbed his book as it came back to down and shoved it into his pouch. He then kneed the clone in the chest, sending it dissipating into smoke, then shifted his head to the left as a fist came from behind. _Damn, these kids are fast._ A shuriken flew at him from the left and he hopped back.

Right into Naruto's waiting arms.

"Sakura, NOW!" Sasuke shouted, diving at Kakashi's legs to keep him from running. Sakura ran forward and snatched at a bell, she felt the cool metal touch her fingertips-

-but Kakashi was gone, and in his place was only a log.

"What?" Sakura skidded to a stop as Naruto fell on Sasuke's head.

"OWW!"

"NARUFTO-GER-OHF-MY-EAD!" Sasuke mumbled, violently shoving the blond away and eliciting a yelp of surprise from the boy.

"My ASS! Sasuke, your head is too hard! Aghhhh!" Naruto howled, rolling from side to side, holding his throbbing tailbone.

"Shut up, moron!" Sasuke shouted back. "We need to hurry up and find Kakashi anyways!" He sat up and rubbed at the back of his head, wincing in pain. As soon as he saw Sakura's face his eyes narrowed and his lips jutted out in a pout, "What are you laughing about?"

Sakura gave him a look of concern, asking, "Are you alright?"

But she was laughing on the inside.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

"Oww…" Naruto stood up and rubbed at his butt one more time, knowing it wouldn't be sore for long, but still not liking the pain.

"Suck it up, moron. What's your plan now?" Sasuke shot at him, glaring.

"Oh stop your glaring, Mr. Pissy. He's got to be close around her somewhere, right? The Body Replacement Technique can't be done over long distances, or the user wouldn't be able to get away fast enough."

A tick started in Sasuke's forehead at the nickname and he clenched his teeth in anger, fuming silently. He ignored Naruto and looked around the clearing, sensing for any sign of their jounin teacher.

Without warning the raven-haired boy leapt forward and threw a barrage of kunai, then pushed off to the right and threw another wave. Kakashi jumped out of the trees on the left and found Naruto behind him again. The blond dropped to his hands and swung his legs around, twisting as he came; Kakashi grabbed the boy's legs mid-twist and tried to throw him to the side, but Naruto flipped over and grabbed his teacher's hands in a vice-like grip. Sasuke appeared behind the man and spun a leg out, successfully throwing Kakashi off-balance for a moment.

Sakura ran forward-seemingly out of nowhere-and tackled her teacher, one hand going towards the bells and the other there to shove any resistance away. Her hand clasped on both strings and she yanked back, ripping the red threads from Kakashi's waist.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" she shouted, jumping around in circles before putting a fist on her hip and holding the red threads up for all to see-

-that they were only strings, bells no longer attached. Sakura stared. "NO WAY!"

The lunch bell went off.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

All three students stood unhappily tied to poles, forced to watch their sensei eat a most delicious-looking, scrumptious-smelling lunch as their own stomachs rumbled.

"Now, you three had exemplary teamwork, no doubt about it. But something tells me you don't get the point of this test," Kakashi said, slurping up some noodles.

Sasuke 'tch'ed and glared at his teacher, "Of course we do. A ninja must be willing to sacrifice himself for his teammates."

A gleam came into the silver-haired man's eye, "Oh you get it, do you?" So fast no one-except the enigma known as past/future Naruto-could see, Kakashi had Sakura pinned down, hair gripped in one hand and a kunai at her neck. Sasuke and Naruto were both untied.

Kakashi looked from one to the other. "Naruto, fight Sasuke to the death or Sakura dies."

Sasuke looked on with eyes wide in surprise for a moment before they turned to anger, "What are you talking about?"

"You can't be serious!" Sakura shrieked, but Kakashi tugged on her hair and she whimpered herself into silence.

"Well? If you don't start in the next thirty seconds, Sakura dies," he warned.

Sasuke glared at him, in full fury, and turned to Naruto for support, but found the blond staring blankly at their suddenly-gone-insane teacher. "What's wrong with you, Naruto?" he hissed.

Naruto looked at Kakashi a little longer, then 'hmpf'ed and plopped on the ground Indian style, crossing his arms and pouting. "No!"

All three in the clearing stared at him, then his teammates suddenly burst out at the same time:

"Why would you do this to me, Naruto!"

"What the hell are you thinking, moron!"

Kakashi just watched, emotion bare from his face. _Are you so callous as to throw away the life of your teammate?_

Naruto turned indignantly to Sakura, "Of course I wouldn't do this to you! But what am I supposed to do? You want me to kill Sasuke instead? Or him to kill me? Kakashi's gone insane, that much is obvious. You think a madman and enemy would let you go because Sasuke and I fought to the death? I won't play by his rules. I don't play by anyone's rules but my own."

The blond stood, eyes locked on the knife at Sakura's throat. "Sasuke, I hope to God you can still anticipate my movements." And then the boy had his own kunai out and rushed to stab the silver-haired jounin in the neck.

Kakashi lifted his own kunai to block the attack almost lazily, unconcerned with his students' abilities and silently applauding Naruto's decision. But what he didn't expect was for Sakura to be dragged out from under him, hair cut away by the kunai in Sasuke's hand. He glanced down in slight surprise and paid for his lapse in concentration; he received an elbow in the collarbone as Naruto stepped closer, taking the opportunity offered.

Kakashi vanished from the spot and appeared a few feet away from all three of his students.

"Guess what? You pass! 3" The man eye-smiled.

The three genin stared uncomprehendingly at the man. Naruto was the first to break the silence. By laughing.

"You-haha-You're kidding! Oh this is"-he snickered-"this is priceless. You're insane. Best. Teacher. Ever." He glanced at his teammates' faces and burst into a fresh wave of laughing, "You should see your faces! Oh, I wish I had a camera!"

Sakura looked at Naruto, "What's wrong with you?" She turned to her teacher suddenly, realizing she should be angry at him instead, "What's wrong with _you_? What kind of freak threatens one of his potential students and tells the other two to fight to the death?"

Sasuke's head snapped from one idiot to the other, apparently unsure of who to glare at the most. He eventually settled on Kakashi, since he had always known Naruto was a moron and shouldn't have expected anything different from him.

Kakashi looked gravely at his two serious students and rolled inner eyes at Naruto's behavior, "You should be thanking Naruto, Sakura. You too, Sasuke. He figured out the initial part of this test-yes, I was watching your little secret meeting, Sakura-and he also, though inadvertently, solved the second half. He didn't play by his enemy's rules and instead almost sacrificed himself to save you, Sakura. Had I been a real enemy, I would've stabbed him in the heart."

Naruto stopped laughing and made a face, rubbing subconsciously at his chest. Sakura simply stared at her sensei. Sasuke huffed in anger and glared at Kakashi a second more before jerking his gaze away.

"Well…" Kakashi looked at all three of his only passing students, "If you have no more questions, I'll go report to the Hokage that you passed and are now genin. See ya." He vanished in a swirl of dust and leaves.

"B-but. Oh." Sakura sighed in defeat, "I don't think I'm cut out for this…"

Naruto walked to her side and patted her reassuringly on the head, "Of course you are! Once you get into the swing of things I _know_ you'll be an amazing ninja." Sakura looked up, surprised, and Naruto winked at her. "Trust me. Now, how about we go get something to eat? I'm STARVING!"

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

The Hokage stood looking out on the village from his office windows, contemplating the report just given to him by Kakashi. "And you're sure he was masking at least part of his chakra the entire time?"

"Yes, sir. I have suspicions it may be a defense mechanism developed because of abuse by citizens due to his… condition. But I could be wrong."

"No, that would make sense." The robed man paused to take a couple draws on his pipe, then continued, "His intelligence of you is surprising and a bit disturbing. Some things he shouldn't know at all unless he had been a close friend of yours for years. And you're sure you didn't even feel the Nine-Tail's chakra in Naruto's body… Very strange…"

Kakashi waited a few moments, letting the man think, but when five minutes went by he wondered if the Hokage had forgotten he was standing there (and hungry). "Sir?"

"Hm? Yes, sorry. For now, I would like you to continue watching his every move carefully. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm worried his attempt at concealing his chakra so much may indicate either some sort of problem with his seal or…" he sighed, "Or he could be an imposter. Let's hope I'm wrong. Thank you for the report, Kakashi. You are dismissed."

"Sir." Kakashi flew out the window, heading out to find his trouble student. Sarutobi sighed heavily and massaged his temples. _Please don't let this be an imposter. I can't fail you, Minato._

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

**A/N:** Quick question, do you prefer me using the English names for jutsus, etc., or would you like me to use the Japanese names instead?


	4. The Genin Games

Oh dear. I'm such a bad person. You know I actually cried when I went back and read all the nice reviews I got and realized I hadn't updated in months? (admittedly, I was pms-ing, so…) Please forgive me! I love you all, and thank you kindly to those who did review. Those things make my day. =D

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

**Chapter 4: The Genin Games**

Naruto sighed; the last few days had been rather boring-what with the D-rank missions of gardening, babysitting, and the unfortunate capture of the Fire Lady's cat-and the blond was feeling increasingly restless. _I can't believe how boring it is to be a genin… This sucks._ Naruto threw his head back against the wall and groaned in frustration_, I can't even train, what with Kakashi following me night and day. He even follows my clones with some of his own! And I'm no closer to figuring out what the hell is going on with this place; genjutsu or time-travel? Or something else entirely? _

"GAHHH!" He tossed his hands in the air and leaned forward, tired of thinking and feeling the need to move. He suddenly stood and jumped off, racing along the rooftops with as little chakra as possible to give his muscles a workout. He felt Kakashi let off a small chakra spike in surprise as the older man scrambled to catch up to the blond. Naruto grinned impishly and pushed more chakra into his legs, making him shoot off into the air at twice the speed he had originally been going, _Time for a race! Oh, that gives me an idea…_ He sent out his senses, found the chakra he was looking for, and changed direction slightly to head towards it.

A full minute of leaping along rooftops later Naruto dropped into training field twenty-four to find Team 8 taking a break from practicing.

Kiba glanced up as Akamaru barked and he said in surprise, "What's the drop out doing here?"

Kurenai gave her student an admonishing look and said, "That's no way to treat a comrade, Kiba." She turned her gaze to Naruto and kept her face carefully blank as she asked, "What's going on, Naruto?" _He's the one Kakashi was telling me to watch out for, the one who was acting odd. I wonder what he wants?_

Naruto grinned at the genjutsu mistress, "Hello, Kurenai-sensei. I was wondering if I would be able to borrow Team 8 for the day for a sort of all-team training session I came up with. I figured they would be the most likely to say yes, so I came to get them first. Is that alright?"

Kurenai turned to her students, "What do you say, you three? We've already done some training today, and this would be a good chance to gauge your skills against your comrades'."

"Hell yeah, we're in, right Akamaru?" Kiba shouted, leaping up and grinning evilly. "Come on, Hinata, Shino, we can't let the other teams beat us!" he urged his teammates.

"U-Um, I-I th-th-think that w-would be a g-good idea, too, Shino-kun," Hinata stammered, avoiding eye contact and nervously pushing her index fingers together.

Shino simply grunted in affirmation.

"Sweet!" Naruto shouted, pumping his fist in the air, "Alright, you three should go get Team 10, while I get Team Gai. Do anything necessary to get them to come. Meet back here in thirty minutes!" With that Naruto leapt back onto the rooftops, on to his next target.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

Naruto waited impatiently on the sidelines as Lee, Neji, and Tenten fought together against Gai, everyone failing miserably to land hits on the older man except Bushy-Brows, although even his blows were being avoided as often as they had to be blocked.

"That's enough, my wonderful students! It seems my rival Kakashi's student wishes to speak to us! We must be courteous to him!" Gai shouted, turning to Naruto and doing the 'Nice Guy Pose'.

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted, grinning way too widely and coming over to Naruto, "Naruto-kun, it is most good to see you!"

Neji simply stood where he was and Tenten walked slowly over to the orange-clad genin, smiling politely. Naruto glanced at the three and decided he would convince Gai to force his team to come with him, seeing as none but Lee looked eager to do anything.

Naruto threw an impish grin in Neji's direction (knowing the stuck-up Hyuuga would hate what was going to happen) and said, "Gai-sensei, I was just wondering if Team Gai would be available for an all-team training thing I came up with. I've got Team 8 and 10 already on board and I was going to go see if the other teams would join."

Gai threw his arms out wide, "Of course Team Gai will participate, young Naruto! Go with him, Lee, Neji, Tenten!"

"But sensei, I thought we were-" Tenten started, but Gai waved a hand dismissively at her. "Tenten, we should take this opportunity to win against Team Kakashi! You three cannot lose to my rival's students!"

Neji looked ticked, but knew when his teacher's mind was made up and simply walked over to Lee and Naruto. Tenten looked at Gai, deflated, and turned to join the others.

"Well, that went faster than I thought it would. You three head to training field twenty-four and wait for Team 10 and Team 8 while I go get Sakura and Sasuke. I'll see you in twenty-five minutes!"

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

Naruto crouched on a rooftop and trickled some of the Kyuubi's untainted chakra into his system, and was instantly bombarded by the entire city population's negative emotions. He gasped, the feelings almost a physical blow against him, then concentrated hard, looking for specific people and emotions. Finding them, he cut off the gold chakra and chuckled quietly, _We have so much to do to get you both into shape._ He then returned to field twenty-four; landing in the clearing, he found Kurenai had gone (as well as his shadow Kakashi) and Kiba and Shikamaru were waiting impatiently for him.

"Where are your teammates, drop out?" Kiba asked, causing Naruto to roll his eyes at the continued insult.

"Today was a day for individual training, so they're off somewhere. So I've now made the first part of our training: find Sasuke and Sakura!" Naruto replied, a glint in his eyes.

Shikamaru sighed, "Do we have to be here? This sounds so boring."

Naruto smiled evilly, "Trust me, it'll get more interesting. Let's see… Yes, that should do it. I'll be right back!" The blond vanished, using shunshin, the Body Flicker Technique.

Shikamaru raised a brow, _That's a jounin level skill. Since when did he know that?_ The genius shrugged, finding the thought too bothersome to follow, and sat down on a tree stump, waiting for the blond to return.

No more than five seconds later, Naruto reappeared. And then a second Naruto appeared. And then a third. Each had his arms full of bandages. Everyone there looked over at the orange-clad genins.

Akamaru barked and Kiba looked confused, "What are these?"

"These," the middle Naruto started, "Are exactly what they look like."

"Bandages," said another Naruto, setting his pile on the ground before vanishing.

"They are part of the first training task," continued the last Naruto, setting his own bandages down. The first one who had talked gestured for Hinata to come over, making the blue-haired girl blush furiously and shuffle towards him.

As that Naruto ripped part of the cloth off and stood behind Hinata, the other Naruto said, "The first task is to find Sasuke and Sakura, but to turn it into training I'm limiting the senses you can use." The first Naruto reached over Hinata's head and pulled the bandage over her eyes, tying the cloth in a knot at the back of her head. "Hinata-chan, grab hold of this end of the bandage," he said, bringing her hand up to hold the frayed end. He could feel her trembling with nervousness and gave her hand a small reassuring squeeze. "Now, charge just a little bit of chakra into it, please. There we go," he said as he felt the chakra bind with the cloth.

The other Naruto turned to the others and explained, "You will not be able to use your eyes in your search"-he raised his hand as the other genin opened their mouths, stemming their protests and complaints-"I know it will be difficult-more for some than for others-but what training isn't? Not only that, but no tracking jutsus are allowed, for those of you who know them. Any other jutsu are at your disposal, though, such as Hinata-chan"-he turned to her furiously blushing form-"You may use your Byakugan as you wish. And Shino, you can use your bugs."

"But that gives an unfair advantage to them!" Ino complained.

"Is the shinobi world ever fair?" No one answered him. "That's what I thought. Now come on, everyone, come get some bandage and wrap it over your eyes. Then we can begin!" The speaking Naruto disappeared, leaving the last one-the original-standing behind Hinata.

Once everyone had covered their eyes, Naruto stood on the tree stump Shikamaru had been sitting on and then said dramatically, "Let the Genin Games begin!"

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

"Well I'm surprised, my rival Kakashi. You're student's training idea is very interesting so far. But my team will definitely beat yours," Gai said, watching as Neji started heading East as soon as Naruto started the 'Games'.

"Hm? Did you say something, Gai?" Kakashi asked, eliciting an enraged glare from his green-clad 'rival'.

Asuma groaned as Chouji simply continued eating and Shikamaru waited for Naruto to move and then reclaimed his seat on the tree stump, "I can't believe those two are so lazy. I'm never going to get them through the chuunin exams."

Kurenai chuckled and smirked as all three of her students started moving immediately, most everyone else milling about uncertainly, "Looks like my team will beat yours, Gai."

Gai turned and pointed a finger at her accusingly, "You're team specializes in tracking and locating; they have an unfair advantage and therefore should not be in this part of the Games at all!"

Kakashi sighed, "I think you're missing the point of the exercise, Gai. Naruto is introducing them to one of the great follies shinobi often fall into: their reliance on sight. This training exercise forces them to heighten their chakra sensing abilities, their senses of hearing and scent, and their ability to successfully navigate the city from memory." _And I'm surprised he came up with turning a simple search into an effective training exercise. But was it a fluke, or did he really mean to test those skills, I wonder?_

There were tears in Gai's eyes, "You are too cruel, my rival Kakashi!"

The silver-haired jounin rolled his one eye and turned his back to 'Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey', instead joining Kurenai and Asuma's conversation, leaving Gai to his over-dramatic antics.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

"Tch, this is too troublesome," Shikamaru said, sighing and leaning his head back tiredly.

"Do not say that, Shikamaru-kun! The flames of youth burn strong in you still, you need only to use them!" Lee shouted, turning to face Shikamaru but mistakenly facing the completely wrong direction. Not that anyone there could tell.

Tenten sighed as well, "I agree with the lazy kid, this is too hard."

Ino groaned in frustration, "I thought I could use my Mind Body Switch Technique, but I can't aim at anyone with my eyes covered!"

"You should have realized that earlier, Ino. Anyway, Shintenshin no Jutsu requires an immobilized target, but I can't help you with that either," Shikamaru said, having nothing better to do but analyze since he couldn't watch clouds.

Ino huffed and crossed her arms, silently pouting. Her head whipped around angrily when she heard Chouji still stuffing his face. "Would you stop eating and at least try to do something! And you too, Shikamaru! At least I'm not just giving up! You two infuriate me!" she screeched, causing Tenten to raise a brow and Lee to back away from the terrifying wrath of a woman.

Tenten flopped onto the ground, "I'm bored. Can't we just quit and take these things off?" She tugged at her bandage and found it virtually glued to her face.

"No, Naruto's done something to them. Putting our chakra into the cloth bound it to our bodies," Shikamaru explained.

"But what about Lee-kun? He doesn't have any chakra. Hey, Lee, can _you_ take your bandages off?" Tenten asked, turning to face the direction she thought her teammate was in.

"How could you say that, Tenten-san! We must strive to win this contest so that Gai-sensei can have another win against Kakashi-sensei! We must uphold the rival tradition!" Lee replied, and Tenten imagined his eyes flaming with their usual vigor.

"I guess Naruto knew the extra holding wasn't needed," Shikamaru replied wryly.

"Let us search for Sasuke-kun and Sakura-san!" Lee shouted. And off he went, running forward and slamming into trees, fences, buildings, and disgruntled people.

Leaving the others to sit unhappily in the training field.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

"Right, Akamaru! We should start from Sasuke's house to get his scent. I want to find him first so we can challenge him to a fight!" Kiba said, grinning as he walked down the streets of Konoha with nearly no difficulties. Akamaru barked enthusiastically in response from on top of his master's head, tail wagging in anticipation.

But when the two reached the Uchiha Gate they stopped short. Both could smell the faint trace of blood left behind by the Massacre years ago, and the entire compound had an awful, cold, nauseating aura as well. Kiba could feel Akamaru trembling violently on his head, so the dog boy backed up and returned to the rest of the city.

"I don't think Sasuke lives there any more, boy. And since we don't know where he _does_ live, I guess we should go try to find Sakura instead. Off to Haruno's house!" he said, trying to calm his white-furred companion down with his normal loud self. Akamaru whined quietly in response.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

As soon as Hinata activated her Byakugan she flinched at the sight before her: the chakra-laced bandage was too close to her eyes, leaving painful streaks in her vision, but after a few moments she began to get used to it. She decided to stay on the ground, as she was having difficulty judging where buildings were, making it a bad idea to try to leap onto a rooftop she couldn't see. She looked harder, keeping an eye out for the distinct dark chakra of Sasuke and the more average chakra of Sakura. She gasped in surprise when she caught sight of Naruto; instead of seeing his normal blue chakra with hints of red, she saw golden threads weaving throughout his chakra coils. _Naruto-kun? What is that?_ She began to look closer but squeaked in embarrassment as she realized she was spying and immediately cancelled her Byakugan.

"What's wrong, Hinata-san?" Shino asked. The two had silently agreed to work with each other on finding their missing comrades.

"N-Nothing, Shino-kun. I did not see Sasuke-kun or Sakura-san. Have you had any luck with your kikaichuu?" she asked, grateful her teammate could not see her blushing.

_She stammered. It must have something to do with Naruto. Did she see him with her Byakugan? My bugs were much more active and awake when he was around. I wonder why…_ "Yes, they've found some recent traces of Sasuke's chakra right outside of Konoha, while Sakura's has been found leading to training field ninety-seven, also outside of Konoha. Which one should we go after first?" he replied stoically.

"Sakura-san will probably be easier to find, so let's go to training field ninety-seven first. She can help us find Sasuke-kun as well. What do you think, Shino-kun?"

The bug-user grunted quietly in affirmation and the two started running towards the Great Gates of Konoha, Hinata leading, using her Byakugan to avoid people, and Shino following the sound of her footsteps.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

Neji curled his lip in distaste at his situation; not only had Gai ordered them to participate in theses ridiculous 'Genin Games', but somehow the drop out had done something so that the damn blindfold wouldn't come off his head. _I'm surrounded by idiots._ The prodigious Hyuuga's face subconsciously went into glare mode, and despite not being able to receive the full force because his eyes were covered, everyone nervously avoided the fuming boy.

_Forget this, I'm going to train on my own,_ he thought, and immediately headed for the Hyuuga Compound.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

"What do you want, moron?" Sasuke turned his head to glare at the blond idiot sitting in a tree watching him.

"Ah, don't be so mean. I'm here to invite you to join the rest of the genins for group training exercises," Naruto replied.

Sasuke snorted, "As if. I'm busy. Leave."

Naruto jumped down from the tree and came over to his teammate, "Aw, come on! I promise the training is good. And don't tell anyone I told you, but it very well may be useful for our next mission."

That got Sasuke's attention. He turned back to Naruto. "What do _you_ know about our next mission?"

The blond waggled a finger, "Ah, ah, ah, that would be telling. Just trust me on this, would you? I was right about Kakashi's test, right about our teamwork, right about that mission with the Fire Lady's cat, so don't you think just _maybe_ I'll be right about this? So come onnnn!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "What the hell could you teach me? Go bother someone else."

"Come on, come on! You won't know until you try."

"If I say yes, will you shut up?" Sasuke mumbled.

"It's more likely," he said with an impish grin. "Now, you have to _swear_ you'll join us before I tell you anything about the training," Naruto said, his face turning very serious.

_What the hell, why not? It's not like I'm really getting anywhere with trying to awaken my Sharingan..._ "Sure, fine, I swear."

"Sweet! Okay, right now all the others are looking for you and Sakura with blindfolds over their eyes, and they can't use tracking jutsu, although Kiba can use his sense of smell, Hinata and Neji can use their Byakugan, etc. I'm doing this so that they can train their chakra-sensing abilities and realize they should train senses other than sight," Naruto explained enthusiastically. He looked up at Sasuke with a glint in his eye, "And since they're probably on their way here, we should do a little training and then move on. Here, put this over your eyes and then put some chakra into it." Naruto handed Sasuke a strip of bandage while he tied one over his own eyes.

Sasuke cautiously put the thing on and channeled some chakra through it, feeling the cloth tighten like a second skin. "What now, moron?" He could hear the evil grin in Naruto's voice as the blond replied, "We fight! Taijutsu only, no weapons. Let's see if our ability to predict each other's moves works without sight. Let's begin!"

Sasuke leaned back immediately, feeling the wind created by Naruto's roundhouse, then continued leaning to do a back flip, raising his legs to kick the blond in the chin. Naruto dodged it, then pushed Sasuke's leg to the side, throwing the Uchiha off-balance. Sasuke turned his back flip into a cartwheel and crouched, knees apart and arms raised to block Naruto's kick towards his chest. Sasuke grabbed Naruto's foot and twisted, hoping to hurt the other boy's leg. Naruto simply spun with the twist, putting all his weight on Sasuke's hand and bringing up his other leg for a kick at his teammate's head. Sasuke ducked beneath the attack and pushed against Naruto's foot, sending the boy away and pushing himself backwards a bit with the force of it.

Naruto laughed, "Alright, alright, that's good. I can't really help you train for a real fight, since we seem to know each other's thoughts. You up to trying some other training? "

Sasuke smirked, "Afraid you'll lose, moron? Fine, show me what training you can come up with."

"Yeah, yeah, believe whatever you want. Anyways, what I want you to do is send chakra to your nose to enhance your sense of smell, like the Inuzuka Clan does," Naruto replied.

Sasuke complied and sent chakra to his nose, but was instantly bombarded with literally thousands of smells, causing him to lose control and dissipate the chakra. He heard a laugh.

"Nice expression. You're supposed to concentrate chakra _slowly_, Uchiha," the blond said, snickering.

"Shut up, stupid. I got it already," Sasuke shot back, face twisting angrily. He took the other boy's advice and sent chakra to his nose in small portions, his sense of smell becoming stronger with every bit. It was like how the world smelled after a heavy rain, all the scents enhanced, but distinguishing one thing from another was nigh impossible.

"Oh, you seem to be doing better this time. You've probably realized how difficult it is to tell one scent from another. Here"-something was shoved under Sasuke's nose and he jerked back slightly at the powerful scent of ramen-"This is what I smell like. Now, it's much harder to track a topical scent like skin or sweat than to track blood, so blood is where we'll start off training." There was another explosion of scent, this one metallic, but with a hint of something Sasuke couldn't identify.

"That's my blood. I'm going to go to where Sakura is and you have to try to follow me. See ya!" the boy shouted, and then the scent retreated from in front of Sasuke.

_Wait… Damn it. _The Uchiha tried to pull the bandage off his face, but found the edges had bound seamlessly with his skin. _That's disturbing. Fine, moron. I'll do this your way._

He concentrated chakra in his nose and began walking forward carefully.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

Sakura wiped the sweat from her brow and groaned, physical exhaustion dragging her to her knees, _Why in the world did I let him talk me into this crazy program? I know he said Sasuke liked strong girls, but this is just ridiculous…_

"Sakura-saaaan! How goes the training?" Naruto crouched on a tree branch and waved happily at his pink-haired teammate.

Said teammate glared daggers at him and shouted, "'How goes it'? What the hell is wrong with you? I'm exhausted! What kind of training program is this? All I'm doing is working out, _without chakra!_"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Well of _course_ it's without chakra. It's a bad habit to rely on chakra, so this is designed to break you of that habit."

"But what the hell did you _do_ to me? I can't feel _ANY_ of my chakra!" Sakura shouted back, traces of fear evident in her voice.

Naruto sighed, _Come on, I didn't mean to scare you. _He jumped down from the tree and put a thin layer of the Kyuubi's pure chakra over his hand, and then he pat Sakura on the back, pushing the golden chakra into her body. "You can do this without chakra, Sakura-san. I only used a chakra sealing technique Ero-um, I learned. It monitors your body and breaks should you become so tired you need it, but this training won't put you so close to death that you need chakra to sustain yourself, so no worries, okay?"

Sakura aimed a punch at him, feeling oddly rejuvenated, but he easily dodged and laughed.

"That's right! Good, good." He looked around training field ninety-seven, "Looks like you've done well. You can stop for today. We have other stuff to do now. Look, here comes Team 8!"

Sakura looked up to see Kiba, Akamaru, Shino, and Hinata walking towards them, each with bandages covering their eyes. _The hell is that for? Don't tell me… He got them training too?_ She glanced sideways at her blond teammate, _What's going on with him? He's always been the outcast,, so when did he get all these people to listen to him?_

"Oh? Naruto? What are you doing here?" Kiba asked, catching the blond's scent as he sniffed the air again.

"I was waiting for whoever would find Sakura first. I guess you three are the winners, although no one else really played. Congratulations anyway, though!" Naruto answered, grinning. He walked forward and tugged at the ends of the blindfolds, each one slipping off effortlessly into his hands.

"What jutsu did you use on those, Naruto-kun?" Shino asked, turning to look at the blond.

"Actually, that's part of the training, so I can't tell you. Anyway, we should head back to the others. I've finally got the proper motivation for them," Naruto replied.

"'Others'? Who else is with you guys?" Sakura asked. _Just who else did he get training with him?_

"Why, all of the Konoha genin! Even Sasuke, although he was being a pain in the butt… Oh right, here, Sakura,"-Naruto stepped up to her and quickly tapped his fingertips to her stomach, causing the seal he used to keep her chakra at bay to recede-"You'll need chakra for this part."

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

_Damn him!_ Sakura stumbled forward, arms out so she wouldn't run into anything. Naruto had thrown her in the same boat as Sasuke and left her to follow them back to training field twenty-four. _I hate him! Stupid Naruto!_ She tugged feebly at the blindfold again and growled when it continued to be stuck to her face. _He is so dead when I find him…_

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

Naruto landed in the training field and surveyed the lazy ones with disappointment, sighing as Kiba snickered at them.

"What do you all think you're doing?" Naruto asked, walking towards them.

Shikamaru tilted his head to face the sound of the boy's voice, "It's too troublesome. Can you take these off now?"

Naruto scowled, "Troublesome my ass. There are only two ways that thing will come off. Either you figure out what I did to the bandages and you undo it, or you find Sasuke and I take it off for you. Now get working on one of them."

Shikamaru sighed and leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees and his fingers together in his thinking pose.

Naruto smirked, _This will be good practice, Shikamaru. You'll thank me one day._ He gazed at the others, "Well? Are you going to do something, or will you just wear those blindfolds forever?"

"What do you expect us to do?" Ino complained. "If Shikamaru is already thinking of an answer then we can just wait until he figures it out so he can tell us."

"He won't have the chance to tell you, actually. I need him for something else as soon as he can see. But you can ask Team 8 for help; they can see now." The blond ignored the grumbles he received and walked over to the fence and leaned against it, thinking while he waited for Shikamaru.

_What exactly should I say? It's not like I can just come out and say 'Hey, I think I got genjutsued by a crazy old woman into thinking she sent me to the past. Can you help me dispel it?' or 'Is time travel possible? Cause I think it happened to me'. And what about my other problem? Maybe I should start there…_ Naruto rubbed his temples, trying to stop the impending headache, and realized Shikamaru was leaning on the fence next to him, waiting patiently for his attention. He turned to the boy expectantly.

"You said you needed me for something?" the pineapple-head asked, respectful of the Naruto's privacy but watching him all the same.

Naruto sighed, "Yeah, follow me."

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

"So I take it you figured out how to undo the bandages?" Naruto asked. The two were on the Hokage Monument, atop the Fourth's spiky-haired head. Shikamaru lay with his hands behind his head, enjoying his favorite pastime of cloud watching while Naruto stood staring out over the village, trying to gather his thoughts.

"Nn. It's an interesting concept. How'd you come up with it?" Shikamaru replied.

His thoughts elsewhere, Naruto didn't take time to think about what he was saying and began to answer truthfully, "It was a contest between me and Tsuuu-ah, actually, I'm not supposed to say." Shikamaru gave him a sidelong glance, watching as the blond dropped heavily into a sitting position, sighed, and began massaging his head.

The lazy genius remained silent, keeping his questions back until Naruto calmed down, then asked, "I take it you have a lot on your mind?"

Naruto scowled and stared out at the village some more, fidgeting slightly, "Yes. You know you're the smartest person I've ever met?"

Shikamaru appreciated the compliment, but he was beginning to worry that Naruto was putting too much faith in his abilities. "Thanks, but what's wrong, Naruto?"

Naruto was silent for so long Shikamaru began to think that perhaps the boy had decided not to talk when suddenly the blond spit out, "Can you swear to keep what I tell you secret?"

Shikamaru sat up to lean on his elbows, surprised. He stared at Naruto curiously, _I thought he might be joking, but… I recognize that expression; I've seen it on my dad's face plenty of times when he received a mission or spoke with the Hokage. Naruto is completely serious..._ Hoping he wouldn't regret the words, Shikamaru replied, "Yeah, I promise to keep it secret."

Naruto stared at Shikamaru, biting his lip uncertainly, then said, "Fine. You're sure? You can't back out after I start talking."

Shikamaru nodded.

"Okay. I know something is going to happen-don't ask me how-something that puts my entire team in danger, but if things go as they should then no one on our side will die. Team 7 gets some pretty severe injuries and plenty of blood loss, but each one of us learns something extremely important, things I'm not sure could be learned otherwise. So my problem is this: should I try to stop this from happening, or let it happen as it should?"

_That's Naruto. Straight to the point,_ Shikamaru thought wryly. "I take it none of these injuries are lasting?"

Naruto shook his head, "None of them are more lasting than a month or so."

"Well then, if no one is crippled or killed, and such important lessons will only be learned through this situation, why would you want to stop it?"

Naruto looked tortured, "Isn't it my duty to keep my team safe from harm? How am I supposed to willingly watch them get hurt when I know I could stop it?"

Shikamaru was silent for a moment, thinking. He felt Naruto's eyes on him, pleading for an answer he may not be able to give. "Are these lessons they learn important enough for them to get hurt, Naruto?"

The blond stood angrily and shouted, "I don't know!" He turned away from Shikamaru and closed his eyes, trying to pull his emotions back under control.

Inspiration hit Shikamaru and he turned to face Naruto, "You want to be Hokage, right? Don't you think the Hokage asks that same question every time he hands out a mission to one of his shinobi? Don't you think he wants to keep his soldiers safe from harm, too? He never knows if any of them will come back alive, but you know for a fact your team will, and you'll be with them if anything goes wrong. So let me ask you again: are their lessons important enough to let them get hurt, with you right there to take care of them?"

Something clicked in Naruto's head and he whipped around, grinning wildly at Shikamaru, "You're right. Thanks, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru blinked, _I didn't expect it to work _that_ well. Although I suppose with Naruto, it's just one extreme emotion after another._ He rolled his eyes and lay back again, staring at the clouds to hide his slight embarrassment, and muttered, "You're so troublesome."

Naruto let out a bark of laughter, "Of course. I wouldn't want to be anything else. Come on; let's go see how the others are coming along."

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

Naruto walked into the training field twenty-four for what felt like the hundredth time that day and snickered. Sasuke sat glowering on the ground, the others talking uncertainly with each other while they waited for Naruto to return and take their blindfolds off. Kiba was trying unsuccessfully to tear Ino's off her face, while she screeched at him to be gentler.

"Well I can't be gentler if you want me to take it off, so hold still!"

"OW! Stop it already! Naruto obviously didn't rip your head off when he took yours off, unfortunately, so you're doing it wrong!"

Kiba snarled at her, then caught sight of Naruto out of the corner of his eye and let go of Ino, "About time, you two! What the hell took you so long? Sasuke showed up ten minutes ago shouting at everyone to tell him where you went!"

Naruto burst out laughing, "Oh, I wish I could record this somehow. This is the best situation I've seen you all in to date. Damn, I would've done this training exercise earlier if I knew it would be this funny."

Sasuke snarled and stood, "What the hell, moron! Get this damn thing off of me already or I'll kick your ass!"

Still snickering, Naruto walked over and tugged Sasuke's blindfold off-receiving a glare in return-and then continued on to everyone else, causing several people to blink as they got used to the daylight again.

Naruto frowned when he pulled the last one off of Chouji and swept his eyes over the group, "Where are Neji and Bushy-Brows? And where in the world is Sakura?"

Tenten rolled her eyes, "I'm sure Neji went off to train somewhere, blindfold or not. And Lee dashed off looking for Sakura and Sasuke, but considering he's totally blind and has no idea how to track people, I'm sure he's lost."

Naruto shook his head, "Tenten, would you go get Neji, please? If he doesn't come, tell him that blindfold will never come off."

She looked at Naruto angrily, "Why should I listen to _you_? I didn't even want to do this. I agree with Neji on this one; it's a waste of time."

Naruto glared back at her, "It wouldn't have been a waste of time if you had actually _tried_. And you should listen to me because I'm actually trying to help you. But damned if I'll teach an unwilling student, so go ahead and quit if you want to." He turned to glare at all of them, "If any of you want to leave, go right on ahead. Just don't ask for my help any time in the future."

Most everyone there except Team 8 looked angry and quite ready to leave, so Shikamaru took the chance to step in, "Naruto's training plans are good. He told me about them and asked for help in making them better, so I know he can actually help all of us with weak spots." The boy looked at Naruto and saw gratitude in them as the blond smiled and nodded ever so slightly in thanks.

Ino immediately sighed, "Fine. I'll stay."

Tenten turned to her, "You just take what he says as truth? He's just a kid. What could he know?"

Ino turned angrily to the other girl and opened her mouth to speak, but surprisingly, Chouji beat her to it, "If you're underestimating the genius of not only the Nara Clan, but of Shikamaru in particular, then you're one of the stupidest people I've ever met."

Ino turned shocked eyes on her teammate as Tenten glared at him. Naruto grinned, glad to see the deep friendship of the two again, and turned to address the others, "In case some of you didn't know, the Nara Clan always has and still plans all strategies in wars Konoha fights, as well as the defense plans. They have a reputation for producing the brightest minds in all of the villages combined, so I suggest you listen to anything Shikamaru ever tells you."

Tenten still seemed angry, but she huffed and stood, throwing a "I'll get Neji" over her shoulder as she walked off. Everyone else turned to Naruto and Shikamaru for instructions.

The knuckle-head ninja turned to Kiba, "Can you track Bushy-Brows? He'll enjoy the next part of the training."

Kiba grinned, "Can't do it yourself? What a shame. Sure, I'll go find him, dropout."

Naruto rolled his eyes and turned to Sasuke, who was still brooding, "Oh cheer up, Uchiha. I taught you something, didn't I? Just as I promised. But you should've run into Sakura somewhere, and since she's not here, I take it you didn't."

Sasuke looked up at him, "No, I just followed the blood trail you left which, by the way, you ended halfway here, making it much more difficult to follow."

"Yet you made it here! See, you're improving already."

Sasuke simply snorted and looked the other way.

"Oh, here she comes."

Sakura was taking baby steps towards the gate to the training field, arms out in front of her, nose raised to the air.

"Good job, Sakura. But what happened? I left the same trail for Sasuke, but he says he didn't smell you. Did you get lost?" Naruto asked, walking forward and tugging the blindfold off. Sakura only glared, which let Naruto know she _had_ gotten lost, and he just shrugged.

"Well, for right now we're waiting for the rest of the group to get back, but when they do I'll start the next part of the—" Naruto trailed off, his eyes narrowing as he picked up a chakra signature he recognized.

Ticked off at being ignored, Sakura made to grab the blond's ear and twist it but found her wrist caught in an iron grip before she got close. "Ow, Naruto! Let go!" She tried to yank her arm back and, that failing to help, began to try and pry his fingers loose, all the while shouting, "Naruto, stop it! Let go! NARUTO!"

The orange-clad genin snapped back to reality and let his fingers fall loose, releasing his teammate. "S-sorry, Sakura. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"The hell you didn't! Look at my wrist; it's already bruised!" She showed him her wrist and indeed dark purple was already consuming it in the shape of Naruto's hand.

Naruto winced, "You should put some ice on that soon, or it'll get worse." He then turned to Shikamaru, "I just remembered I've got to go do something, so can you get Neji's blindfold off when he gets here?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, but shrugged nonetheless, which Naruto took as a yes. Turning to the others in the clearing he said, "We're going to have to continue this another time. Sorry, everyone. I'll let you know when."

"What? But Naruto—" Ino started, but he was already gone.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

Naruto made straight for the powerful slippery chakra he had detected, anger building in his chest. _Of course she'd be here_, he thought, jumping in through his window and immediately throwing a punch at the old woman's head.

She cackled and spun, dodging the punch, and put her hands up in surrender, "What's all this for? I gave you what you always wanted. Did you change your mind?"

"Fuck you! Who are you? Let me out of this genjutsu!" Naruto shouted.

"Oh dear, tsk tsk. Such naughty language for a young boy to be using. I've already told you, my name is Loki. And this is not a genjutsu, you fool, it's something much more powerful."

"So it is a jutsu, just not an illusion, huh? What the hell do you want? What does making me think I'm in the past help you accomplish?"

Loki sighed heavily, "I'm not making you _think_ you're in the past, Naruto, you _are_ in the past. This is not a jutsu, it's the power of the—" Her mouth clamped shut as she tried to keep speaking and she faced the ceiling, shaking her fist at it in anger. Her mouth opened again and she said, "I can't tell you what it is, you have to figure it out yourself. But I've already given you hints, so I suggest you go do some research of your own. I've got to go now, but I'll be seeing you again soon. Ta-ta!" She smiled at him and then she was gone.

Naruto yelled in frustration as she left and sat on his bed, glaring at the floor. His clenched fists slowly relaxed and he hung his head, _Damn it…_

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

Kakashi landed on the rooftop and looked around Konoha, cursing himself for losing track of Naruto after the boy unexpectedly took off from the training field. It was getting dark and he'd been looking for hours already. Feeling the anger building behind his eyes, he took a deep breath, _Calm down, Kakashi. He'll turn up. You just have to use all your senses. _He closed his eye and took several deep breaths, concentrating chakra on his nose and ears at the same time.

A huge surge of chakra disrupted his concentration and he whipped around to stare at the forest beside the Hokage Monument. _Whose chakra is that?_ He leapt off towards it, going as fast as he could. A few other ninja were heading towards it as well, obviously as concerned as Kakashi, some nodding greetings at him as they passed.

All the ninja landed at the same time to find a personalized training field set up, with training dummies spaced around the clearing. Every one of the ninja looked around in amazement at the craters and near-decimated trees, and eventually their gazes landed on the prone blond figure leaning against a tree.

"Naruto?" Kakashi asked, moving to the boy's side, one eye taking in the ripped clothes and bloody hands. Naruto jerked awake and looked around wildly, "Kakashi-sensei? Wha-what are you all doing here?"

Kakashi looked up at the others, "You can go. I'll take care of this." A few of the ninja looked like they wanted to argue, but they left with everyone else at Kakashi's look.

"Naruto, what were you doing?"

The blond huffed and looked away angrily, "Training."

"What did that include?"

"It's none of your business."

Kakashi raised his brow, "None of my business, you say? You're my student, Naruto. That makes it my business to know what kind of training you're doing. Not only that, but you just disrupted half the village with that chakra surge of yours. I suggest you tell me what exactly you were doing."

_Can it really hurt to tell him the truth? I might as well try…_ "I… I was trying to duplicate the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God Technique."

This answer was not what Kakashi was expecting and he stared at Naruto blankly, "… What?"

"The Flying Thunder God Technique the Fourth Hokage was known for. It was the reason he was called the Yellow Flash, right?"

"And you were trying to do it by yourself? Do you know how dangerous that is, Naruto? Do you even know how it works?"

"Of course I know how it works! I just have to get the seal right. And I need to strengthen my body some more so it doesn't put so much of a strain on my muscles. I fell asleep because it made me so tired when I tried to use the technique."

Kakashi continued to stare blankly at Naruto, disconcerting the boy. "Er, sensei, can I go home now? I'm tired."

"Uh, sure." Kakashi stood and watched as Naruto pulled a shuriken out of a tree and then started walking towards his apartment, apparently too tired to roof-hop. The silver-haired jounin waited until the boy was gone, then headed straight for the Hokage's residence.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

"My Lord, I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour, but it's an important matter," Kakashi said as a bleary-eyed Hokage opened the front door.

"Yes, yes, of course, Kakashi. What is it?" he replied, inviting the jounin to come in and sit with him at a table.

"Thank you, sir. It's about Naruto and the Fourth. Did Minato ever leave notes on his Flying Thunder God Technique?"

Sarutobi narrowed his brows, "Not that I know of. Why, Kakashi?"

"Naruto is trying to duplicate it and he says he knows how it works. How could he know that if there aren't any notes on it? No one who knows about it ever told him, right?"

"He's trying to copy the technique and use it for himself? He shouldn't even know about it at all, let alone know how it works."

"I thought so. What should we do?"

The Hokage looked troubled, "I think it's time we had Naruto examined by a team of medics. Bring him to my office tomorrow morning at seven and I'll take him to a secure location to be checked out."

Kakashi stood and bowed, "Yes, Hokage-sama."

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

**AN:** Oh yes, FYI, if I ever decide to discontinue this story I will put up a notice in the story, so if you don't hear from me for a long time then I'm either really busy or being really lazy. Eheh. ^^; Just a heads up.

PS: OH YEAH. To any Assassin's Creed lovers, have you seen the E3 trailer for Revelations? IT LOOKS SO AWESOME! I'm excited. X3


	5. Seizures and Dreamcatchers

To 1000Nachts (and anyone else wondering) I made this story rated M because I originally planned on having a lot more gore, but as there has yet to be anything horribly gory, I may or may not change it to T. Who knows?

To those who answered my questions or gave me tips about stuff, your input was very much appreciated. =] Thank you!

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

**Chapter 5: Seizures and Dreamcatchers**

"_Moron. Did you really think you could stop me?" Sasuke sneered at him, pulling his blood-covered hand from the new hole in Naruto's chest. Naruto watched Sasuke's Sharingan-activated eyes as he fell into blackness, his friend's cold laughter following him._

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

"NO!" Naruto flew out of his bed, one hand clutching his chest and the other clutching his head, both areas radiating pain. Groaning, he stumbled into his bathroom and turned the shower on its coldest setting, then stepped under the chilling rain without taking his clothes off. The shock woke him out of his stupor and shed light on the ache running throughout his whole body, so he got out of the shower, took off his wet pajamas, and wrapped himself in a few towels. _I must be sore from trying my dad's technique last night, but what about my head and chest? They don't hurt anymore… Maybe I just thought they hurt because of the dream…_ Naruto shook his head as he massaged and stretched the cramps out of his body, getting himself a glass of water and some breakfast when he could move comfortably again.

_What time is it?_ He turned to his cat clock on the wall and sighed; six thirty in the morning. _Might as well get up anyway, Naruto. But what to do…_ Looking around his apartment, his eyes were immediately drawn to his garish orange jumpsuit. He glared at it. _A little too much orange. Time for you to go, my friend._ He pulled the jumpsuit on (as he had nothing else to wear) and was about to leave when there was a knock at his door and he heard a familiar voice say "Naruto, are you awake?"

"Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing here?" he asked back, surprised.

"Can I come in?"

"Uh… Hang on," Naruto replied. _I need new clothes, so…_ He made a clone, gave it his wallet, and sent it on it's way, then started dismantling the booby traps, making loud thumps and hurting himself in the process. Finally through them all, he started to open the door and heard something click, "Oh shit…" He heard the sound of rocks being released and several thuds on the floor outside his door. Opening it all the way, Naruto saw Kakashi standing to the side, staring at the stones curiously.

"What, exactly, was that for?" he asked.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I have problems with drunks and such. You know, they get all angry that the demon container is still alive and come to beat me up." He shrugged, "I stopped using my front door years ago. What is it you need?"

But he had slipped up by telling Kakashi about the Kyuubi, and his teacher was staring very intently at him. Kakashi's voice sounded dangerously suspicious when he asked, "Oh? Who told you about the Kyuubi?"

"Er… Well… You know, it's hard to miss what drunks are shouting right outside your door. And even harder to ignore a giant demon tenant in your stomach shouting about how he's going to kill you when he gets out, so I found out a while ago," Naruto said, hoping desperately Kakashi wouldn't question it too much. He seemed to be out of luck today, though.

"Well, Naruto, I'm surprised you're so comfortable with having a demon sealed in you. I'd have thought it would be something harder to come to terms with," Kakashi replied, watching the blond carefully. "Although I could be wrong. I mean, it's not like I've ever had the same experience."

"Uh…" Naruto said dumbly, at a loss. He paused a little too long in coming up with an explanation, but he tried it anyway, saying, "It, uh, it was kind of a relief, actually. 'Cause, you know, all the adults hated me, and I couldn't figure out why, but now I know it's not anything I did, just that I have a demon sealed in me…" He could see that his lie wasn't working, though, and shut his mouth.

"Uh-huh. Well, if that's how you feel about it, who am I to judge? Anyway, I came here to talk to you about something, so may I come in?"

"Uh, I guess. It's kind of messy, but you can just push something off the chair and sit down, if you'd like…" Naruto muttered, letting his teacher in and shutting the door.

"I'll just stand; this shouldn't take long. I've come to pick you up for a medical examination. All genin are required to have it."

Naruto knew he was lying from both his memories and his new sensing abilities, but what really gave Kakashi away was that not once had he pulled out his Icha Icha book. Naruto was silent for a moment, debating, but figured if he was getting examined he might as well throw caution to the wind and said, "You really should read your book when you lie; it makes it much more convincing than this strangely attentive Kakashi."

The silver-haired jounin looked surprised and extremely suspicious at the comment, but simply said, "I'll keep that in mind for next time, then. Shall we go?"

"Can we wait for a second? I sent a clone—Oh, never mind. Here he is." The window opened and a Naruto clone dropped in, a bag in hand, talking to itself, "I got some clothes! Now I won't look like a fireball anymore."

The real Naruto dissipated his clone and opened the bag, pulling out a black t-shirt and orange cargo pants. "Oh good, I didn't want to _totally_ ditch the orange. And this will be suitable until I get some custom-fit stuff. Kakashi-sensei, can you give me a minute to change?"

Kakashi pulled out his Icha Icha book-which Naruto took as a yes-and began reading it as he waited for Naruto. _Getting Shadow Clones to run errands. Not such a bad idea._

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

"My Lord, Hatake Kakashi has brought Uzumaki Naruto to see you. Shall I let them in?"

"Yes, please do," the Hokage replied, standing before the window in his office overlooking the village.

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, bowing.

Naruto forewent the bow and simply grinned widely, "Hey, Old Man."

Sarutobi turned to face them and raised a brow at Naruto, "No orange jumpsuit? I'm shocked."

The blond shrugged, "It was time for a change. So, what exactly is this examination supposed to be for?"

The Hokage smiled, "It's just a routine check-up meant to determine if you're healthy for ninja life."

"Well as smart as that would be, I'd like to know what it's actually for. You know, for a ninja, Kakashi can be a pretty bad liar," Naruto replied.

Sarutobi looked sharply at Kakashi—who only shrugged apologetically—and sighed heavily, "Well, I suppose it would be no good to lie now. We'd like to figure out just what is going on with you, Naruto. You've been showing some disturbing knowledge lately."

Naruto put both arms out in a half-shrug, "Do as you like. Quite frankly, I'd like to know the results as well. Some interesting things have happened recently that don't make sense."

The Hokage raised his brows, but nodded nonetheless, signaling two ANBU guards disguised as regular jounin to take their positions behind Naruto.

Naruto's face twisted into a pout, "Aw, is this really necessary? It's not like I'm going to run away after telling you I _want_ to be examined." _And they couldn't stop me if they tried_, he thought. But he kept that part to himself.

"Just follow me, Naruto."

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

"Checkmate."

"Ahhh," Asuma's face dropped and he threw his hands in the air. "Why do I even bother playing against you?"

"Because you have nothing better to do?"

Asuma pouted, "You're so mean."

"You're just a sore loser."

Asuma's face changed into a concerned look, "You _are _being mean. You have something on your mind?"

Shikamaru remained silent as he reset the shougi board, but spoke once he was done, "Do you know if anything odd is going on with Naruto?"

_He's picked up on it? _Asuma was only slightly surprised, as he knew Shikamaru was both very observant and extremely intelligent, but he wasn't sure what he could say. "Naruto? Why do you ask?"

"Ah, so there is something, otherwise you would have said no. Is it serious?"

_Damn his observant nature. I should be more careful about talking to him._ The jounin shrugged and asked, "Again, why do you ask?"

_So something serious is going on with Naruto and he either can't or isn't sure that he can tell me about it,_ Shikamaru thought, watching his teacher's face. "Lately he's been acting weirder than usual, and his strange actions coincided with the uneasiness in the jounin senseis, so I figured he might be the cause. I thought I'd ask about it, but now it sounds too troublesome to bother with," Shikamaru said, shrugging.

Asuma sighed, "Well for your sake, I hope you stay out of it."

"Whatever. He's the most troublesome guy I know anyway."

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

Naruto squirmed and made a face at the nurse in front of him, "Do you _have_ to take my blood?"

She didn't even look up from the chart she was checking, "Yes."

Naruto pouted, "I hate needles… Old Man, can't you just make a cut and get the blood from that? That's much less creepy, and it'll heal quickly anyway."

The nurse answered before Sarutobi could as she set the chart down and picked up a needle, "Your blood will become contaminated with foreign particles if we do it that way. It must be drawn through a needle."

The blond shuddered, his eyes riveted on the horrible thing in her hand, "Can you just make it fast, then? Those things suck."

As the woman tied a rubber band around his bicep and cleaned the skin at the draw site she asked in an admonishing tone, "How do you expect to be a ninja when you can't even deal with a little needle?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "I don't _use_ needles in ninja training. I know some shinobi use senbon needles, but those aren't the same as needles nurses use."

"Well, what's the difference?" she asked.

The blond was outraged, "What! What's the difference? Well for one, they _look_ different! And senbon aren't used to draw blood or inject unidentifiable chemicals into your body, unless you count poison."

"I take it you don't count poison, then," she replied wryly.

Naruto smiled, "Right."

"There, all done."

"What?" Naruto turned to look at her. Four small vials of blood sat on the metal table beside her and were taken away by another nurse as she cleaned off the needle she had used. Once she was done she set it down and picked up a small scalpel and a petri dish, "We need some skin samples. Care to put your hand out?"

"Sure," Naruto replied, stunned she had managed to distract him from the pain and annoyance of the Horrible Needle. "You know, you're good at this."

"I try to be," she said with a quick smile, handing the skin samples to yet another nurse. She turned to nod at the Hokage, walked out of the room, and shut the door quietly behind her.

Naruto looked at the Hokage and snickered, "So why are we in the safe rooms behind the Hokage Monument? To conceal my screams of pain?"

Before Sarutobi could reply none other than Morino Ibiki walked in through the door, making Naruto's face drop, "You know, I was just kidding about that. I'd rather not be making screams of pain any time soon." Ibiki was followed by both Yamanaka Inoichi and Hyuuga Hiashi.

Sarutobi chuckled, "It's to conceal your chakra, actually. Ibiki kindly volunteered to test your physical limits, Yamanaka Inoichi has agreed to test your mental limits, and Hyuuga Hiashi is here to study what your chakra looks like."

Naruto looked nonplussed, "Uh-huh. And what exactly does testing my physical limits include? Torture?"

"I see you are familiar with my reputation, Uzumaki Naruto. But alas, torture is not a part of this test. I must say, though, after hearing what Mizuki had to say about his fight with you I'm quite interested in what this test reveals."

Naruto looked strangely at Ibiki, "Did you torture Mizuki? Er, never mind. I don't really want to know. Well, let's get this over with. What am I doing first?"

"Physical tests first, Uzumaki."

"Right. Let's begin!"

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

"I… I don't get to see my own test scores?" Naruto panted, grabbing the water pitcher off the table and drinking several gulps before splashing it over his head to cool off.

The Hokage, who stood perusing through papers on a clip board, sounded concerned as he answered, "Not the specifics, but what it basically says here is that you passed the ANBU fitness test with flying colors."

"That… That was the ANBU fitness test? Hah… No wonder he looked so sour… A twelve year old beat his most grueling test with flying colors," Naruto said, chuckling breathlessly at the memory of Ibiki's bitter face.

"Yes…" Sarutobi looked at the scores for a few more moments before he handed them to a clerk with orders to have them filed. "I'd like to get these tests done as quickly as possible. Do you think you're able to do the mental test now, or would you like to rest a while?"

Naruto grinned, white teeth flashing, "I'm ready now. This test has got me curious. What exactly is a mental test?"

A few minutes later Inoichi came in with a pile of papers in his arms.

Naruto's face immediately dropped, "Oh, I already know I'm not gonna like this. Are these a bunch of, well, _tests_?"

"Yes, Naruto. Are you ready?"

The blond sighed, "I suppose."

A table and chair were set up and Naruto began taking the tests. He went through basic knowledge tests first, such as math and history (which he was sure he failed miserably), but as he got to the tactics tests he grinned; with his extra seven years of fighting experience, this was something he could do.

He was just getting to the last few tests when he felt Inoichi enter his mind. He immediately shut his eyes and went into his mind, _finding Inoichi standing frozen before the Kyuubi's new cage. He grabbed the man by the arm and led him down a side sewer. "You shouldn't be here, you know. It can be dangerous," he said, glaring at the older ninja like he was an errant child._

_Inoichi seemed a little dazed, "I didn't know I would see the demon like that. Wait…" He turned his full attention to Naruto, "What are you doing here? How did you know I had entered your mind?"_

"_Advantage of having distinctly unique chakra, I suppose. And it helps that my mind has been invaded before; I know what it feels like and what to look for."_

"_**Naruto, come back here. Tell me what's going on!"**__ The Kyuubi's voice echoed down the sewer corridor, causing Inoichi to flinch and Naruto to roll his eyes._

"_That damn fox has got to be one of the most demanding creatures I've ever met…" Naruto mumbled, then he shouted back, "I'LL DO IT LATER! I'M BUSY!"_

"_**The fuck you're busy! Get your scrawny little ass out here!"**_

_Naruto grumbled, "Follow me, we can go somewhere we won't be able to hear his griping."_

_As Inoichi followed Naruto through his mind (trailed by diminishing shouts from the Kyuubi) he eventually got past the shock of seeing the demon fox and asked, "Uh, do you always talk to the Nine-Tailed Fox like that?"_

"_I used to do it much more often, since he has a direct link to my mind. But things have changed recently and his comments on my life have lessened, which is a relief; he's such a critic."_

"_Uh-huh…"_

"_So what did you come in here for anyway? Do you just enjoy poking around people's heads when you think they won't notice, or is this part of the test?" Naruto asked as they came to a stop in a corridor that looked exactly the same as the rest. Inoichi couldn't figure out how Naruto knew where he was going, but he supposed one would know his way around his own mind._

"_Well, you weren't supposed to know I was in here," he said, sounding almost apologetic. He rubbed the back of his head in thought, "I'm not really sure what to do now. Maybe I should leave… Unless you give me permission to poke around freely?"_

"_Well… I guess. I need to go speak with the Kyuubi and restrain him, unless you promise to go nowhere near the cage."_

_Inoichi gave Naruto an odd look, "I didn't know you could restrain the Nine-Tailed Fox. Though there's no need to worry; I don't plan on going anywhere near it."_

_Naruto grinned, "Oh good. If you have any problems or questions, just shout. I'll hear you. Have fun poking around!" The boy closed his eyes and was gone._

He's an odd one, that Naruto. He managed to make me feel completely at home while invading his mind, _Inoichi thought, chuckling. _This will be interesting, I'm sure.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

Naruto opened his eyes back on the real world, finding himself halfway through the very last test. He stuck his tongue out of the side of his mouth, thinking hard, and wrote out the last answers. Finishing, he put the paper on the top of the 'Done' pile and stretched, sighing.

"_Finally_. I thought they would never end. So, what's next, Old Man?" Naruto asked, leaning back in his chair, eyes blissfully closed.

"Actually, Naruto, can you show us the seal on your stomach?"

The blond jerked forward and opened his eyes, surprised by the familiar voice, "Ero-sennin! What are you doing here?"

Every person in the room sweat-dropped at the nickname, Jiraiya himself lost for words, mouth hanging open dumbly. Once he regained sense he put his fist up in an angry (and rather comical) pose and shouted, "Don't call me that! I'm the great Sannin Jiraiya; have some respect!"

Naruto saw Sarutobi cover his mouth discreetly, covering a chuckle with a cough. The blond smiled, but then remembered what they had asked to see and became uncomfortable, _If I show him the seal, Jiraiya will immediately notice that it has changed, as will the Old Man. How am I supposed to explain that to them?_

Naruto was saved from having to come up with an explanation, though, as he felt Inoichi call out to him in his mind. "Uh, excuse me. Inoichi is calling for assistance with something in my head, so I'll be right back," he said, sliding his eyes shut and slipping into his mind.

"_What is it you need, Inoichi-san?" he asked, trying to pinpoint the man's exact location. It was proving to be very difficult, causing Naruto concern; he knew every inch of his mind._

"_What… is this? Naruto, what in the world are these memories? Is that the Hokage _dying_?"_

Shit_, Naruto started running down corridors at random, trying to find Inoichi. "Where are you? Inoichi-san!"_

"_Naru_—"

_Naruto felt Inoichi shoved forcefully from his mind, followed by a bombardment of memories._

_He screamed._

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

Sarutobi's surprise at the fact Naruto knew and was okay with Inoichi searching his mind was cut short by a sudden horrible scream, followed by Naruto collapsing to the floor, eyes rolling back in his head and breathing becoming shallow.

After a moment of shock, the Hokage fell into emergency mode and went straight to the door. Opening it, he took quick stock of those nearby and starting issuing instructions, "You two nurses, come in here immediately; I need you're help moving Naruto. You" —he pointed to an ANBU agent wearing a dog mask—"Go to the hospital and tell them to prepare for a possible seizure patient." Receiving a nod of acknowledgement from the ANBU agent, Sarutobi led the two nurses into the room, where Kakashi was crouched beside Naruto, checking his pulse, and Jiraiya was frantically pulling the boy's shirt up. As the black cloth was pulled back, the blond's new seal was revealed on his stomach, causing Jiraiya to inhale sharply in surprise.

Both ninja were gently but firmly moved from Naruto's side by one of the nurses, who began to do her own checks of his vitals. The other nurse went to check on Yamanaka Inoichi, who had yet to wake from his jutsu. Coming to stand beside the Hokage, Jiraiya said quietly, "I'm worried this might be related to the Kyuubi, sensei. The seal on Naruto's stomach isn't the one Minato used on him." Sarutobi looked sharply at his former pupil, then returned his gaze to Naruto.

_What has happened to you, Naruto?_

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

"Before we begin deciding what to do, I want to know what has already happened. Inoichi, can you tell us what went wrong when you went into Naruto's mind? It may give us some answers to his sudden seizure." The Third sat at the head of the conference table in the Hokage Tower, where he was joined by Kakashi, Inoichi, Ibiki, Hiashi, and Jiraiya. Inoichi had just arrived, having finally returned to his own body and immediately requesting an audience with the Hokage. His face twisted as he concentrated, trying to remember as much as he could.

"His mind was a labyrinth of sewer tunnels, and the room I entered…" He shivered at the memory, but continued a moment later, "There was a cage in front of me, and behind it I could see the form of the Nine-Tailed Fox."

Jiraiya leaned forward, looking thoughtful, and asked, "Was the cage locked? Would you be able to draw what it looked like?"

"I think it was locked, but quite frankly, Jiraiya-sama, I was more concerned with the demon. I am sorry I can not help more," Inoichi replied, looking apologetically at the white-haired sannin.

Jiraiya stared at him, surprised. _Inoichi was so shocked that he didn't notice much? He's one of the calmest and most analytical people I know, after Nara Shikaku._

"It's alright, Inoichi-san," Sarutobi said, gesturing for the man to continue his report. Inoichi nodded and faced the others in the room.

"Naruto arrived at that point and guided me away from the room." He chuckled, "He admonished me for dropping in unexpectedly, but seemed concerned only for my safety regarding the Nine-Tails and not the fact I was invading his mind." He looked troubled then, "He appears to often talk to the demon, as he seemed extremely comfortable with insulting it."

"He _talks_ to it?" Jiraiya asked.

Kakashi was the one to lean forward this time, "When I saw him this morning he told me the Nine-Tailed Fox often made threats about killing him when it was free. And he said this lightly, as if it were a normal conversation topic."

The Hokage looked at the table, thinking for a moment, before he glanced at Inoichi and said, "Continue."

"Naruto gave me complete access to his mind, even offering me help should I need it, and then he left. I headed for his memories, specifically the ones from the last few weeks, to see if there was anything odd there. What I found disturbs me. The first memory I found was one of seeing you at the graduation ceremony for genin, Hokage, but then there was a flash of a long past memory. It was your death. You were lying on the roof of the stadium in battle gear, with the clothing over your stomach burned away and a seal inked into your skin. I called out to Naruto, but continued to sift through his memories while waiting for him to arrive. I found a white box, then, and tried to open it. The box exploded and something came out of it, but I was forced out of Naruto's mind before I could see what it was. Based on his reaction to it, I don't believe Naruto even knew the box was there. I also don't believe he consciously pushed me out, but that it was a defense mechanism of his mind. I eventually returned to my own body, and now I am here."

The Hokage was shocked, _My death? How is that possible?_

Hiashi turned to the Hokage, "My Lord, right before Naruto started screaming I saw a burst of white chakra come from his head, but it dissipated before I could investigate it any further. The white chakra, though, was not native to Naruto's body, the Kyuubi's, or Inoichi-san's, which means someone else has been interfering with the boy's mind."

Kakashi and the Hokage shared a glance; not only were their fears of problems with the seal being confirmed, but it also appeared that someone powerful enough to mess with a jinchuuriki's mind was messing with Naruto's.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

"Hyuuga Hinata?"

Hinata whipped around in surprise and asked, "Who are you?" She stood in the middle of training field twenty-four and had been practicing the taijutsu style of her clan, the Gentle Fist.

The old woman ignored the question and smiled, "Hello, dear. This may come as a shock, but I came to tell you that that boy, Uzumaki Naruto, is currently in something like a coma."

"N-Naruto? A coma?" Hinata whispered.

The woman walked forward and patted the blue-haired genin on the arm, "Not quite, but close enough, dear. Now, I know you don't know me, but I have something that will help him." She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a bag, which she handed to Hinata.

"The string inside that is infused with raw chakra. If you want to help Naruto, you must weave it into a dream catcher. To make it more effective you must think only of helping Naruto while you weave. When you are done, take it into his hospital room and hang it above his bed, then make a connection between the dream catcher and Naruto's forehead with some of the white chakra. Can you do that, Hinata-san?"

Hinata looked uncertainly at the bag in her hands, _Can I…? She's a stranger, but…_ Her face set determinedly, _If it's for Naruto_. She looked up to say she would do it, but the white-haired woman was gone.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

"Jiraiya, is there any way you can figure out what's wrong with the seal without aggravating Naruto's current state?" Sarutobi asked, his elbows on the table and his head resting atop interlocked fingers.

The toad sage looked troubled, "I'm not sure. All I know is that somehow Naruto has signed the contract Minato left in my possession, which means he has the ability to release the Nine-Tails at any time."

"How do you know that?" Kakashi asked.

"The contract is held by a scroll toad, but I check it every now and then to see if there has been any damage done to the seal. When I checked it a few days ago I saw that it had been signed with Naruto's chakra, so I came here as quickly as I could. I was afraid the Nine-Tails had been released."

The Hokage nodded, "I'm glad you did. Naruto has been acting strangely the last few weeks and you came as we were doing some tests to see what had happened. We—"

There was a knock on the door and a nurse poked her head nervously inside, "Hokage-sama, you said you wished to be notified of any change in Uzumaki Naruto's condition. He was fairly docile before, but he has been worsening since you left the hospital, and the doctor requests you come back so he may determine if you're absence is what caused the change or if it is something else."

Sarutobi stood and nodded. "Yes, I will come."

The others in the room stood as well and Inoichi said, "Hokage-sama, may we come as well? We may be of further use." Receiving a nod from him, they fell in behind him and followed the nurse back to the hospital.

As they approached Naruto's room they could hear increasingly louder screams of pain and the nurse ran ahead to help restrain the blond. As the group got to the door they saw Naruto thrashing on the hospital bed, barely held down by no less than two doctors, three nurses, and two men who had simply been passing by when they were asked to help.

The six ninja rushed in, ready to help, but as they got closer Naruto went suddenly rigid and lay completely still. Looking closer, the Hokage could see tear streaks running down Naruto's face, which was clenched in pain.

One of the doctors came to stand beside the Hokage, "I'm glad to see you, Hokage-sama. As you can see, he is apparently docile while either you or one of the others with you is around."

Ibiki, who was looking intently at Naruto, said, "The pain he is experiencing is not normal for a seizure patient. Do you know what's wrong with him?"

The doctor shook his head, "You are correct, but we cannot find any physical reason for the pain. We were about to send for a medic-nin, but perhaps one of you would be able to help us. Has he been doing anything extremely stressful in the last few days?"

"He has been doing ninja training, as well as some physically and mentally exhausting work in the last few hours," Sarutobi replied.

The doctor rubbed his head, "Alright, then… Perhaps it has to do with his chakra. We'll run some tests."

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

_Naruto backed into a corner and closed his eyes, trying to shut out the horrible images he was seeing and return to the real world. The creatures kept laughing at him, and one of them popped up beside his head to shout in his ear. Naruto jerked away and yelped in fear, then stood and started running wildly through the tunnels of his mind. At every turn another of the creatures popped up, imitating his friends._

"_Moron. Where do you think you're going?" asked Sasuke, sneering._

"_You promised you would save him, Naruto!" Sakura shouted, crying._

"_You can't do anything right," Kakashi said, staring at Naruto with a stone-cold face._

_Naruto backed into one of the walls, shaking his head back in forth as if trying to deny what he was seeing. As he slid to the floor he saw a red bubble of chakra wrap around him. The creatures' voices faded to a low mumble and Naruto sighed in relief._

"_**I can stop it all, Naruto. Just give me control and I can burn them all to ashes for you."**_

_Naruto bit his lip, uncertain. The red bubble started to recede slightly, letting in the words of the creatures, and Naruto shouted, "Stop, stop, come back!" The bubble obligingly shut around him again._

"_**You must give me control, Naruto. I cannot keep this up forever. If you do not give me control, I will not be able to help you."**_

_Naruto shook his head, "No, no, I can't."_

"_**I am sorry, Naruto. I cannot help you, then."**_

_The bubble popped suddenly and Naruto screamed._

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

"Stop…"

Kakashi turned to look at Naruto as the others talked about what to do. He walked over to stand by the boy's bed and listened intently.

Naruto's face twisted into pain and he muttered, "Come back…" A moment later his face and body relaxed.

Jiraiya came to stand beside Kakashi, "What is it?"

Kakashi shrugged, "He's muttering something."

The two watched in amazement as Naruto's whisker-like markings thickened before their eyes and the boy became troubled, "No… Can't…" The marks thinned again and he suddenly screamed, making everyone in the room jump. He cut off as suddenly as he had started, but he had gone rigid again, and his fists were clenched so tightly that blood was sliding between his fingers.

"What is it, Kakashi, Jiraiya?" Sarutobi asked, coming to stand beside them. He watched as Kakashi pried Naruto's hands open, revealing deep cuts in the boy's palms from his fingernails. The Hokage gestured to a nurse, who came over and started cleaning the wounds, then turned to face Jiraiya. "Were there any changes before he screamed?"

Jiraiya nodded and gestured to Naruto's whisker markings, "He relaxed some and these markings thickened, but he said 'no' and 'can't' and the markings thinned again, and then he screamed. Aren't those markings from the influence of the Kyuubi while Naruto was in the womb?"

Sarutobi nodded, "They are. Do you think they thickened because of the fox?"

"Yes. It's obviously trying to get out somehow, but I have no idea how to stop it. Naruto could be in pain because of it, but I'm just not sure." Jiraiya sighed heavily, _What's going on, Minato? Is there a problem with the seal?_

"Stop it…"

They each looked down to find Naruto's eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling. Kakashi waved his hand in front of the boy's eyes, but there was no response. Then the blond started crying again.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I tried to save him." Then his eyes shut again and they heard nothing else.

The Hokage sighed, "Jiraiya, Kakashi, I want one of us three here at all times. Ibiki, Inoichi, Hiashi; you are to say nothing of these events to anyone, but you may return to your regular duties now."

Ibiki and Hiashi nodded and left, but Inoichi hung back for a moment, "Hokage-sama, I will look through our clan records to see if there is any precedence for Naruto's condition if you'd like."

Sarutobi nodded and Inoichi left as well. "I will take the first shift, you two. Kakashi, you should go see Sasuke and Sakura, but I don't want you telling them what has happened here for now. Jiraiya, I know you rushed here, so you should try to get some sleep."

The two nodded and left as well, Jiraiya saying, "I'll come to relieve you later so you can eat and get some sleep yourself."

Sarutobi pulled a chair from the wall over to Naruto's bed and sat down.

_Wake up soon, Naruto._

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

_It's done, Naruto. I'm coming to help you,_ Hinata tucked the finished dream catcher into her jacket and headed for the hospital. The sun had just set and the night life of Konoha was waking up. Colorful lights announced clubs and restaurants, scantily clad woman standing near the entrances of many of them and leading men away.

Hinata walked quickly down the streets, nervously avoiding people, but when she arrived at the hospital she realized that visiting hours were over. Crestfallen, she stood in front of the glass doors of the hospital, debating. _Should I just come back tomorrow? I wanted to help Naruto as soon as possible, but if I can't see him… Maybe I can just ask if I can._

She entered the hospital and went to the front desk and said quietly, "Um, excuse me."

The nurse looked up after a moment, saw her, and smiled, "What do you need, miss?"

"Um, I know visiting hours are over, but, um, I was wondering if I would be able to hang this in Uzumaki Naruto's room," she reached into her jacket and set the dream catcher on the counter.

The nurse smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry, but I shouldn't let you in unless you're a family member."

Hinata bit her lip, "O-oh… But N-Naruto doesn't have any family members, ma'am. I just thought it would be nice to leave him something…"

The woman sighed and stared thoughtfully at Hinata a moment, then said, "Alright, but just this once. Let me see… Here he is. Uzumaki Naruto is in room 412. Oh, and if anyone asks, tell them Atsuko said you could see him."

"Th-Thank you!" Hinata dipped her head gratefully, picked up the dream catcher, and walked quickly down the hallway towards the stairs.

Atsuko watched as she left before she returned to her work, smiling.

_Young love. So sweet._

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

Hinata paused in front of room 412 and looked at the floor, where light was seeping out beneath the door. _Is someone in there?_ She knocked nervously on the door, but when she received no answer she slowly opened it and poked her head in. Her breath caught as she saw Naruto, who looked like he was in extreme pain, and she started walking towards his bed without a second thought. Halfway there she stopped dead and began blushing furiously, as she realized someone was sitting in a chair beside the blond's bed.

_Who is he? He looks like he's asleep…_ Inching closer, she saw the white-haired, red-clad man was indeed asleep. _I should just put this up and go, since Naruto has someone here already…_ She pulled out a thumb tack—she'd had enough foresight to think she might need it—and stuck it in the wall above Naruto's head, then hung the dream catcher on it.

_Okay, now to see if it will work._ Taking a deep breath, Hinata activated her Byakugan and put her index finger and thumb together on the center of the dream catcher, then pinched and drew her hand towards Naruto's forehead. Concentrating, she put her fingers on his forehead and pressed down as she spread them apart, leaving the white chakra in an almost web shape on his skin. She sighed in relief, glad it had worked, and watched happily as Naruto's face slowly relaxed to present a peaceful sleep.

She smiled, glad to have been a help to her favorite person, then left the room quickly and quietly, leaving Naruto and his mysterious visitor to rest.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

**AN:** Game Gushing Time! So I just recently bought Batman: Arkham Asylum and IT. IS. AWESOME. If you don't have it or you haven't ever played it YOU NEED TO DO SO.

Oh, and I preordered Arkham City as well. ^^ So excitedddd.

Alright, gushing over. Any suggestions for my story (or games!) please let me know! And, as always, reviews make my day, no matter how short. =]


	6. Deceitful Dialogue

Er, yeah, it's extremely late. But you know what I say?

Procrastinators are the leaders of tomorrow.

WHY WON'T THE SEPERATY THINGIES WORK?

((do I really have to do this for all of them?))

**Chapter 6: Deceitful Dialogue**

Jiraiya watched through half-lidded eyes as the indigo-haired girl went to Naruto's side and put up the dream catcher. He nearly raised a brow when she activated her Byakugan, but instead closed his eyes as she turned to leave. _A Hyuuga, huh? She's got quite the crush on him. She's pretty cute, too…_ Shaking his head to rid himself of lecherous thoughts, Jiraiya stood up and went to inspect the homemade dream catcher, checking it for explosive notes, listening devices, and various jutsu. Finding none of the above, he frowned and thought for a moment. _She used the Byakugan for something. Just checking up on him, or…?_ Glancing at Naruto, the Toad Sage was startled to find him calm and peaceful. He looked back at the dream catcher, _Whatever she did, I'm not going to mess with it._

Poking his head out into the hall, Jiraiya smiled at the first (female) nurse he saw and asked, "Hey there, sweet cheeks. Would you be able to help me with something?" He received a suspicious look in return and put his hands up in a placating gesture, "It's nothing weird; I just need you to find the Hokage and Hatake Kakashi and tell them I've requested their presence."

"Oh." The woman's face lightened and she smiled briefly, "Why didn't you say so in the first place?" She turned and started down the hall, Jiraiya watching her swinging hips appreciatively.

Turning back to Naruto, the white-haired man sighed, _What I wouldn't give to be researching right now._

((dur-da-dur))

_"Shut up!"_

_Naruto punched Sasuke in the face then about-faced and kicked Kakashi in the stomach. Both went flying backward and hit the walls of his mindscape with a sickening crunch, making him flinch. He turned and took off at a dead sprint down the hall, hoping to get away from the things but knowing they'd find him. _They're not real, they're not real, just leave, GO!_ Rounding a corner, he shouted in surprise as a river of white chakra swept over him and down the hall he'd come from; piercing screams reached his ears as it hit the things he'd been fighting._

_Turning back to peek around the corner, he watched in horrified fascination as the thing that had taken on the form of Kakashi burst into flames, its screeching cut short as it finally died. Taking deep breaths to calm himself, Naruto closed his eyes and tried to get back to the real world again. No such luck._

_Looking around desperately, his gaze fixed on the chakra flowing gently past him. He snarled._

_"Loki."_

_Trudging through the chakra river, Naruto found the source to be his memory center, the chakra pouring through what appeared to be the ceiling. He glared at its entry-point._

_"Loki! I know you're here somewhere! Come out, you bitch! LOKI!"_

_"Deary me, and here I thought you'd be grateful I'd killed your nightmares."_

_Naruto whipped around and stalked toward the old woman, fists clenched at his side and face twisted in rage, "What the hell do you think you're doing to my head? Just what the fuck are those things?"_

_She rolled her eyes, "A thank you would be nice, but no, he just cusses and demands answers. This is what comes of leaving people to their own devices." She sighed, "Those things are side-effects of time travel. It's never really been done before, so I wasn't sure what would happen to you, but other than these demons invading your mind every night and the fools of the past thinking something is wrong, all seems to be going well, yes?"_

_Naruto just stared at her. Demons giving him nightmares because he time traveled?_

_What the actual fuck?_

_He opened his mouth to say something, but was for once completely lost for words and therefore shut it again._

_"That's better. Alright, I've taken out all of the demons, but I won't be able to trap them anymore, so you'll just have to deal. I'll also make it so you stay asleep for a while right now, to give you time to figure out the story you'll be telling the people of your past. Have fun!" Loki winked and, once again, vanished._

_Naruto plopped on the ground as the white chakra river vanished. He stared into space, lost and dazed._

I'm so tired. Can't I have a moment of rest…?_ He rubbed his face and sighed, then stood up and looked around, thinking about what to do. _Figure out what to say, huh? _He made a face._ I haven't got a freaking clue where to begin. Who would even know how to make a good enough lie to pass inspection?_ He frowned, then raised a brow as a single name occurred to him. _Well, he _does_ know what's been happening, so… _He grinned. _Getting cooperation might be difficult, but I always like a challenge.

_Reaching his destination a few moments later, Naruto put his hands on his hips and looked up into giant red eyes, "Yo, furface!"_

((fa-la-la))

"Hiashi, what can you tell me of Naruto's chakra?"

Sarutobi stood on top of Hokage Tower, enjoying the fresh air and hoping it would help clear his head after a tough night in the hospital; Naruto's condition worried him immensely. Hiashi stood behind him, hands clasped behind his back and face impassive.

"He has a natural blue chakra that comes from his own body and spirit, and although he has quite the deep reserves it is altogether rather average. Weaved within this blue chakra is a golden chakra I've neither seen nor heard of before. It comes from near the same place as his own, but I couldn't find the exact origin," the Hyuuga clan head replied, stoic to just below the point of rudeness.

"Is that everything you could discern?" the Hokage asked with a slightly surprised tone, his back to the other man. Hyuugas never said everything they knew and the Hokage, through years of experience, had learned the best way to get everything was to imply the Hyuugas hadn't lived up to his standards.

Hiashi's eyes narrowed slightly-the Hyuuga equivalent of angry snarling-and said, "This golden chakra seems to have a rejuvenating effect on everything it touches, and although I can't say for certain without physically testing it, his chakra coils appear to have strengthened due to constant contact with it."

The Hokage took a moment to absorb that, then asked, "Which would mean he had some sort of resistance to the Gentle Fist style, correct?"

A brief hesitation. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Hm." Sarutobi rubbed his chin in thought, _So there could be a defense against the infamously unstoppable Gentle Fist?_ He shook his head slightly, _Concentrate on Naruto._ "What about the Nine-Tail's chakra and the seal?" he asked, turning to give Hiashi a questioning look.

The Hyuuga frowned slightly at this and Sarutobi's heart fell; it was never a good sign when a Hyuuga showed negative facial expressions.

"I could not locate the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra at all. There seemed to be some traces of it in his coils, but I couldn't find the source. There was a seal on his stomach, as you said there would be, but it was not the same shape you described to me."

The Hokage pressed his lips together, contemplating the implications of the information, then closed his eyes and nodded. "Thank you, Hiashi. I have one last question before you go. You said you saw a burst of white chakra come from his head just before he started screaming?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Yes, very well. That is all. Thank you for you time, Hiashi."

The Hyuuga clan head bowed, but as he turned to leave a young woman peeked out from the door leading to the roof and said, "Oh, Hokage-sama, there you are. Jiraiya-sama has requested your presence in Uzumaki Naruto's hospital room."

Hiashi watched worry and fear flit across his leader's face before the man made his features a blank mask and nodded, "I will be there shortly. Thank you." Turning to the Hyuuga, Sarutobi said, "I may call on your services again soon, Hiashi." And then he walked at a clipped pace to the door leading back to the rest of the building, heading straight for the hospital.

((these better work this time, because I think I might hit someone if they don't…))

"Hatake Kakashi?"

The copy-nin glanced up from his book (why was he always interrupted at the best part?) to see a nurse standing in front of him. Discreetly putting his book away, hoping she hadn't seen what it was, he asked, "Yes?"

She smiled kindly at him, "The sannin Jiraiya-sama has requested you come to Uzumaki Naruto's hospital room as soon as possible."

That sobered the silver-haired man from his fantasies and he stood up, giving her a polite incline of the head, "Thank you, miss."

She nodded, "Would you like to accompany me back or"- she glanced at his attire, noting he was a ninja-"will you be heading there on the rooftops?"

"I believe this is an emergency, unfortunately," he replied before taking off.

((there's got to be a better way to do this. Someone, please tell me the secret!))

Searing pain hit his eyes and he groaned, rolling onto his side. _Fucking lights,_ he sat up and pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes, but hands grabbed at his shoulders and set him on the alert. Azure eyes popped wide and he reared back his left fist, ready to hit whoever was trying to subdue him.

He met a calm brown gaze set in an aged face and immediately felt his body relax, hand dropping back to his side. "Old Man?"

Sarutobi smiled, "Naruto. How do you feel?"

The blond blinked and frowned slightly, "Good? How else _should_ I feel?"

The Hokage watched his face carefully for a moment before he nodded, "Good. You've been in a coma for about a day now. What do you remember last?"

The boy stared into space for a moment, thinking, before his face visibly paled and he began to look a little sick. He swallowed past the nausea and muttered, "Nightmares."

Sarutobi could feel Jiraiya's eyes on his back; letting him know his suspicions that this was due to the Kyuubi, waiting for his permission to check Naruto's seal. He took it into consideration and continued his questioning, "What kind of nightmares, Naruto?"

Blue eyes met brown ones and Sarutobi saw the all-consuming fear Naruto was trying so hard to fight down, the desperate plea to leave him alone, the deep-seated sadness born of years of pain.

His heart clenched in pain, _I'm so sorry Naruto. I shouldn't have left you all alone. _His gaze softened, "That's alright. What can you remember other than that?"

"I was taking those tests, and then Inoichi-san called for me in my mind. I tried to get him, but…" He frowned, "I couldn't find him. Then he was shoved out and there was this-this explosion, and then there were nightmares." Naruto shrugged, "And now I'm awake. And… Well, there's something I should probably tell you…"

Sarutobi glanced at Jiraiya and Kakashi; they had discussed running Naruto through a series of tests to prove it was him, but they hadn't discussed what to do should the boy like to talk. Jiraiya raised his brows slightly, an indication that he thought it was worth hearing what Naruto had to say. Kakashi just looked at the Hokage, letting his leader know it was up to him.

"Go ahead, Naruto."

The blond sighed heavily, _This will take a while. They better believe this, furface, or we're totally screwed._ He heard the demon laugh. Eyes roaming around the room, they eventually fixed on a corner of his sheets that he started fiddling with. Then he began.

"I found out the Kyuubi was sealed in me quite a while ago, after the first few times drunks came to my apartment in a rage, screaming about how the 'damn Hokage should have just let the fucking demon die'. I just kind of picked up that I was supposedly the demon. After that I started having weird dreams about this giant fox behind bars taunting me, and eventually I found out he was in my head. He tried to get me to use his power, and…" he sighed. "I used it plenty, outside of the village. He was very nice about it all, actually, although he still liked to insult me."

Jiraiya shot a meaningful look at the Hokage, though he remained silent; but Sarutobi understood him, and he agreed. _I should have taken better care of him._

"Anyway, it was after… well, after the worst day of my life, when he told me that if I took the seal off his cage then I would be able to get revenge on anyone I wanted. I was so… _angry_ I didn't even hesitate. But right before my hand touched the seal this guy comes out of nowhere and grabs me around the middle, in _my mind_, and… he looks _happy_. I was so startled it took me a few moments, but I finally recognized the Fourth Hokage." Naruto looked anxiously up at the three bewildered adults in the room, "My father, he said."

Kakashi glanced at Jiraiya and the Hokage in turn, his gaze questioning, _Is that possible? Could Minato have done that?_ It seemed crazy, at first, but the more they thought about it the more it seemed like something Minato would, and could, do.

Naruto lowered his gaze again to the corner of sheet he was toying with. "Apparently, when he completed my seal he put some of his chakra and my mom's in it. He wanted to explain a lot of things, but he apparently didn't have that much time, so he told me what he thought I needed to know. He told me about the scroll he inscribed on Gerotora's stomach and that he left it to Jiraiya-sensei," Naruto said, but paused when he felt Jiraiya's startled and slightly suspicious eyes snap with increased intensity on him. He glanced up at the white-haired sannin to see his reaction, but the older ninja still looked on with impassivity. Looking back down, the blond continued, "He told me that since he wasn't sure Jiraiya would be around much, he sort of signed the contract for me, before his death. All I had to do was write a seal of my own and put my chakra into it if I couldn't get to the key."

"Would you be able to write the seal down again?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto shook his head, "I'm not sure I'll be able to remember it; I don't have that great a memory for seals. I guess I can try…"

Jiraiya pursed his lips, but the Hokage said, "Don't worry about it right now."

The blond raised a brow, "Alright… Well, the seal was only a part of the things my dad told me. He also explained the concepts of the Rasengan to me, and started to explain Hiraishin too, but he ran out of time and had to leave." Naruto shrugged, "That's all I could do with him, but I got more time with my mom." A wide smile broke across the blond's features, "She was amazing. She helped me control the Kyuubi, and… told me about the night of my birth."

Naruto nearly snarled at the thought of his parents' deaths, _You'll pay, Madara. I'll rip your throat out_. There was another deep-throated chuckle in his mind, but he ignored it.

Gaining control over his features again, Naruto shrugged, "This all started about a month ago, but I finally got control over the Kyuubi um… Two nights before the graduation ceremony for genin?"

The three adults were quite stunned. This explanation had far exceeded their wildest imaginations on the issue and they weren't sure how to proceed. It seemed so far-fetched, yet it was _Minato_ they were talking about. That man could do anything he set his mind to, and apparently he'd set his mind to aiding Naruto, even if it was from beyond the grave.

Naruto watched them all apprehensively, _I'm not sure they're going to believe it. What do I do?_

_**I swear, how can you be so damn stupid? Look like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar and ask if you're in trouble.**_

_Won't they be more suspicious?_

There was a massive snort. _**More suspicious? I don't think that's possible at this point. Don't be dense. Just do as I say.**_

"Am I in trouble…?" Naruto asked, worried eyes on the Old Man.

Sarutobi sighed at the look in the boy's eyes, "No, Naruto. The rest of us just need to talk. I think it's time you rested. I'll get the nurse to give you a check-up and then I want you to sleep, understand?"

The steel authority in the old ninja's eyes made Naruto automatically feel rebellious, but he squashed the feeling and simply mumbled some mangled response that didn't promise anything.

((WHYYYYY?))

Naruto glared at the man trying to shove a needle into his arm, "I _told_ you, it won't do anything; my chakra will burn it out of my system before it does any good."

The man looked rather helplessly at his patient, "I'm just a nurse; I have to administer whatever the doctor orders."

The blond rolled his eyes, "Then why don't you go get the doctor and I can get these orders changed?"

The man nodded briefly and fled to the safety of the halls, happy to get away from the young ninja and wondering why he had to bother with them when they didn't even want to be healed. _Honestly, all they want is to train. What kind of normal person wants to go to work so badly that they pretend not to be sick? It's ridiculous! And then it's the _nurses_ who get in trouble if the patient leaves. Like we could stop them!_

He froze, fear washing over him in terrifying waves, _I was supposed to stay there, the Hokage gave me direct orders to make sure he was watched at all times, he said the boy could be mentally unstable, I AM SO DEAD IF HE'S GONE!_ The man whipped around and tore off back down the hall, heading for room 412. Grabbing the doorframe, he flung into the room at top speed and looked wildly around.

Naruto was gone.

((please forgive me for this. I don't know what else to do.D'=))

"What do you propose we do?"

"I want to see that seal he claims he used. I should be able to tell if it's Minato's handiwork from the style," Jiraiya replied.

"I understand. We'll give him until tomorrow. In the meantime, you should rest."

The red-clad nin nodded his assent, "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

As soon as the sannin left, Sarutobi dropped the mask he showed the public and stared into the distance. The strain of the past few days showed clearly: fatigue lines traced his aged face, deep purple bruises sank below dry, red eyes, and somehow everything seemed difficult, every breath a chore. Briefly he wondered if he was sick, but dismissed the thought in favor of more pressing issues.

_What in the world is going on, Minato? I can't tell what to believe anymore. Naruto makes these seemingly outrageous claims about seeing you, and yet… it's_ you_ we're talking about here._ He frowned, then stood abruptly, _Maybe I should…_ He shifted ever so slightly from foot to foot, indecisive, but ended up heading for the door to his office.

"Namari, I'm going out. Tell anyone who needs me that I'll be back in a few hours," he said, walking briskly past his secretary. She glanced up with a "Huh?", but he was out of Hokage Tower before she could form a question.

((hm))

Naruto stopped right outside the cave entrance, his shadow swallowed by the darkness within.

_What a lonely place to die…_ he thought. _But this is where my parents spent their last moments, as they sealed the Kyuubi in me._ He'd thought he'd be angry-even hateful-towards the fox, but all he felt was an overwhelming sadness and a touch of pity. _You just wanted freedom. Freedom from a world that hated you, caged you, tried at every turn to control you._ The blond let his thoughts trail off, a sense of profound silence descending upon him as he entered the cave.

He went forward just a few steps, eyes slowly adjusting so he could see the faint outlines of the rock. He stopped where his mother's memory indicated his parents had died sacrificing themselves for him. He closed suddenly burning eyes, hot tears slipping steadily away. _I love you mom, dad. I wish I could talk to you again. I need help and I don't know who else to turn to. Can you hear me? Please, I don't know what to do!_

He felt a hand on his shoulder and jerked his eyes open, thinking wildly for a moment that it was his father. Dirt greeted his gaze and he realized he had fallen to his knees, shoulders hunching as he cried. Looking up, he saw the anxious face of the one man who had treated him like he was family from day one.

"Old Man…" he wiped at his eyes and stood up, trying to get himself under control; he couldn't go to pieces. Not here.

"Naruto, what are you doing here? You should be resting," Sarutobi admonished with the voice of a fretful father.

The boy gestured vaguely to the darkness surrounding them, "I wanted to see where they died. To pay my respects."

The Hokage felt pity well in his chest once again, _I'm sorry, Naruto._

Naruto was silent, mind consumed by thoughts of the family he never had, but it took him only a few moments to think of something to ask. "What are you doing here, Old Man?"

Sarutobi flashed a small smile, "I came to contemplate some things, but I think I got my answers already." He glanced at the cave entrance and back to Naruto, "Why don't we get some lunch? It's been a hectic few days, and I bet you're hungry."

The blond's stomach rumbled loudly in response and he grinned sheepishly, "That sounds pretty good. Where should we go?"

"Ramen?" the older man suggested, and was rewarded by Naruto's face lighting up like it was Christmas.

((break))

Naruto kicked at the rocks along the road, head down, heading in no particular direction. _What now, Kyuubi?_

_**What do you think, moron? You told them you used a seal, so you'd better come up with one to show off.**_

Naruto groaned, _But how the hell am I supposed to come up with a seal? No, scratch that, how am I supposed to come up with a _working_ seal? I don't know the first thing about them!_

_**Well, you could try asking for some help.**_

_From who, exactly? Anyone I talk to will be questioned and they'll figure out I didn't actually know anything about the seal._

_**You know, sometimes I feel like you are the biggest fucking idiot I've ever met. ASK ME.**_

Naruto stopped dead in the middle of the street, getting jostled and shouted at by angry passersby, and closed his eyes_._

_He glared suspiciously at the Kyuubi, "Why would you help?"_

_The beast snorted, __**"You think I want you to be experimented on anymore than you do? Anything they do to you affects me as well. The sooner this business is over with the better."**_

_The blond narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips, "No funny business? No trying to trick me into letting you out?"_

_White teeth flashed in a giant grin, __**"On my honor."**_

((breakity-breakity-break-break))

"This is as much as I could remember. He said I would have to put my hand in the center and channel chakra through it, but I'm sure I didn't get all the symbols right on this one, so I wouldn't suggest trying to use it…" Naruto explained, watching apprehensively as Jiraiya examined his seal. He wasn't at all sure what it was meant to do, as the Kyuubi hadn't explained much when telling him what to write. When further questioned, he had said it was like a teleportation of chakra between one scroll and another, and he had thrown in some characters from the old seal on Naruto's stomach to make it look more authentic. He had also explained that anyone who tried to use it would likely blow up because, frankly, it was a mess. He hadn't seemed overly concerned about it.

Naruto was worried, though.

Watching Jiraiya study it, he felt the first beginnings of fear develop in his gut, _This is bullshit. There's no way it's going to pass inspection. The fuck should I do when they figure out its fake? Run for it? Give excuses?_

_**Man up, retard. Stop whining or I'll rip your throat out; you're interrupting my nap.**_

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms, frowning. This drew strange looks from those present, but he didn't notice, too preoccupied with coming up with colorful names to call the Kyuubi later.

"Hm," Jiraiya muttered, "You say you can't remember the rest of it?"

Naruto nodded, nervous. _What does he think?_

The sannin turned to the Hokage, "It's incomplete, so I couldn't say for sure, but the basic concept seems plausible for what he used it for. The transmission of chakra from one point to another is pretty basic, but you need identifying marks in both scrolls so things aren't sent to the wrong place. The key to the seal is extremely complex, so I wasn't sure it could work, but the focal point of the Kyuubi's seal is placed in this one." Jiraiya scratched his head, "As far as I can tell, this would work if it was complete." _I mean honestly, Minato came up with the entire key to the Eight Trigrams Seal within minutes of deciding to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto. There is every possibility that he came up with this transfer scroll as well._

_Holy shit. Holyshitholyshitholyshit. It would actually work?_ Naruto could vaguely hear people talking in the background, but this sudden insight had apparently broken him. He closed his eyes.

_"Wait, so you actually meant it when you said you wouldn't pull any crap?"_

_The Kyuubi gave him the evil eye, __**"I'm not so lowly that I would get my host killed just to satisfy my personal revenge. Now go away, I'm tired."**__ He shut his eyes and turned away from the dumbfounded boy standing before his cage._

Naruto blinked back into the real world, _Well, that made no sense to me, but whatever. It really works, so they'll finally be off my back._ He glanced at the Hokage, who was staring at him with what looked like relief, "Can I go now? I want to get back to training."

The Old Man nodded, "You may go, Naruto. Don't strain yourself, though. And stay in the village."

The blond leapt up from the wooden chair after he said 'go' and yanked open the door of the Hokage's office, dashing outside and taking a running leap onto the rooftops. He headed straight for his personal training field beside the Hokage Monument, ready to work off the frustrations of the last few days.

((I'll break… your face!))

Naruto winced as he climbed in through his window, body sore from mindless training. Foot slipping off the windowsill, he hissed in pain as he tumbled into his room and crashed to the floor. He had refused to use any chakra, as he wanted to improve his endurance to the point of being able to use Hiraishin without pain, but not using chakra included not healing himself, which was... well, it was a pain.

Stumbling in the dark, he made his way to his bed and flopped down, too exhausted to shower or change. Burying his face in his pillow and flipping his sheets carelessly over himself, he shut his eyes and promptly passed out.

((are these annoying you as much as they annoy me?))

_"Stop daydreaming and listen!" Naruto shouted, smacking Konohamaru on the head._

_"Ow! What was that for, boss! I _was _listening!" the younger boy complained, grabbing at his throbbing head._

_"Oh really? I didn't see any transformation, even though I told you to do one," he replied, turning his back on the boy and crossing his arms pompously._

_"Well then how about I rip your eyes out, blondie?"_

_Naruto whipped around to see a black-eyed Konohamaru. Something was wrong with him. "Konohamaru?"_

_The boy-no, the _thing_- chuckled, "No Konohamaru here. You killed him, Naruto. This memory will never happen. Want to know why?"_

_Naruto had frozen, speechless._

_"Aw, does the wittle-bitty jinchuuriki not know how to talk? You're a demon, Uzumaki. A monster. You destroy everything you touch. Take your precious Sasuke, for instance. He turned against everyone and everything he once loved and ended up trying to obliterate it all."_

_"That's not true!" Naruto bit out, fists clenched in anger. "It wasn't my fault Sasuke was like that! It was his idiot brother and the village elders and Madara who did that to him. And now I have a chance to fix it before it goes bad."_

_The creature drew back it's black lips in a sneer, eyes mocking, "You, fix it? You're too stupid to do that. You'll just mess everything up again. You're nothing, Uzumaki. Just a puppet to everyone you know, someone to be manipulated."_

_Naruto shook his head, "You're just trying to make me afraid. It won't work. Nothing you say will help you."_

_The thing laughed, clawed hands clutching it's belly, voice a shrill whistle. "Nothing I can say will affect you, huh? You're wrong. Dead wrong. You do realize you murdered your best friend, ri-"_

_The demon was cut off as Naruto punched it in the face. He continued to attack it, not allowing it to get a word out, until it was just a black lump sprawled on the floor, bleeding black ooze._

_Panting, he stood. Glancing around, he noticed he was no longer in a dream, but in his mindscape. Sewer water mixed with ooze to create black tentacles reaching for him. Taking a few steps back, he eventually turned and headed for the one place he knew they wouldn't dare to go._

_The Kyuubi grumbled, __**"What the fuck are you doing interrupting my sleep again?"**_

_"Oh shut it. Sleeping is boring. Why don't you do something more fun?"_

_The fox rolled his eyes, __**"Not much to do, stuck in your head."**_

_Naruto pouted, "Well then let's change that. I'm here to talk."_

_**"Is this going to take long, moron? If I don't get my beauty sleep I can get very ugly."**_

_"Oh please, you have the entire day to catch up on your 'beauty sleep'. I'm here because I want to learn more about that seal you made. How did you know how to do that?"_

_**"Oh, NOW you're interested in learning. It only took you nineteen years and a trip to the past. Hm, no, I don't think I feel like explaining right now. I'm going back to sleep," **__the fox yawned and stood, heading into the impenetrable darkness of the deeper parts of his cage._

_"Hey, come back here, stupid fox!" Naruto shouted, but the beast just kept walking. The blond could feel himself beginning to panic; as the influence of the Kyuubi receded, Naruto could feel the horde of demons inching closer and closer to him. Forcing himself to calm down, Naruto said, very politetly, "Would you please come back and talk to me?"_

_The Kyuubi paused, tails waving in contemplation. __**"What's this? A polite Naruto? What a novelty experience."**_

_"Please, Kyuubi."_

_The fox returned and leaned against the bars of his cage, __**"If you want me to stay, you have to take these bars down."**_

_Naruto immediately shook his head, "No. I won't let you free to take control of me."_

_**"Take control? Don't be foolish. All I want is a little leg room. Come now, you can suppress me in seconds. Let these bars down and I'll tell you all about the seal I made."**_

_"But…" Naruto bit his lip, indecisive, but eventually backed against the far wall and twisted the seal on his stomach, opening the gate._

_The Kyuubi stared at him, surprised, __**I didn't think he was that terrified of them, but… I can work this to my advantage. It'll just take time.**__ He stretched his entire body, lying out fully for the first time in decades._

_**"So, what do you want to know?"**_

((BLARG))

Naruto rubbed his eyes and attempted to focus on the kunai in his hand. The creatures that visited his mind every night gave him no chance for sleep, and he had instead spent his time talking with (and being insulted by) the Kyuubi. The fox was his only safe haven, the only place he wouldn't be tormented by his deepest fears, but speaking with him wasn't allowing Naruto to rest like he normally would and it was taking its toll.

_Only a few days since this started and I'm already this tired? Pathetic, Naruto._ He shook his head roughly from side to side to wake himself up and centered his vision on the target 20 meters ahead of him. He had never really been a long-distance fighter, but he had begun to see the importance of its applications. Not only did learning to fight in ranged combat help him develop different muscles and fighting styles, but it also gave him insight on tactics he could use to beat a long-distance fighter.

He coated the kunai with razor-sharp, conflicting air currents and tossed it at the cliff face, attaching a small thread of chakra to the handle so he could pull it out of the rock afterward. He watched as it hit slightly to the left of the bull's-eye and cursed under his breath, _I suck at this. _Jerking his hand up and back violently, he tugged the buried kunai out of the rock face and caused it to follow an arc towards him, to land handle first in his open palm. He grinned at it, _I may suck at throwing it, but this part is easy. Perhaps I should try puppets?_

A wave of dizziness hit him and he swayed on his feet, teetering dangerously from side to side. Waiting until it passed, he quickly inventoried his body and found his chakra reserves low. _I can't continue like this. There's got to be some way to get rest without sleeping._ He sat down and twirled the kunai restlessly around his finger, watching the point trace a hypnotic path.

_What could I do? Meditation is a possibility, but that only goes so far, and is more for calming of the mind than anything else. _He snorted, _I could always try getting drunk. Worked that time I had nightmares of becoming Pein. _He shook his head, _But that wouldn't regenerate my chakra, which is what I need. Plus, as drunk as I'd have to get to avoid those things would leave me with one hell of a hangover._

The blond groaned and threw himself against the ground, fully splayed out in the space between the old oaks that towered above him. The shift between golden sunlight and green shadow entranced him and he lost track of time, dazed. At some point the birds took flight, jolting him from his trance. He tilted his head back and saw Kakashi leaning against a tree, third _Icha Icha_ in his grasp.

"Why are you upside-down, Kakashi-sensei? How long have you been there?" Naruto asked, frowning in the confusion of the recently awoken.

Kakashi didn't even glance at him, "I'm not the one upside-down, Naruto."

"Hn," the boy grunted and rolled onto his stomach, then groaned as his sore muscles cried out against the movement. He thought about sitting up, but his muscles gave warning pangs and he remained prone, cheek resting against the soft moss beneath him. He heard a page turn.

"You look tired."

"Mm."

"Have you been sleeping?"

"Ng."

Another page turned. "Why not?"

A sigh.

"Hm." _Too tired to even respond with words._ Kakashi mentally shook his head.

The two stayed that way for a while, Kakashi reading contently and Naruto trying to motivate himself to get up. _Okay, get up now, stand up. Or not. Sit up? Nope, not that either. How about staying here? Oh, that sounds good. No, wait, I've got to get up. _This inner debate went on for quite some time, until eventually Naruto used thoughts of the demons to make himself stand.

"Ugh. Damn, I'm hungry. You want some ramen, Kakashi-sensei? I'm buying." Naruto didn't wait for an answer, but began heading towards the city, and Kakashi fell in beside him, still reading. Only when they reached Ichiraku's did the copy-nin put his book away.

The two ordered and began eating, Naruto slurping his down in seconds and Kakashi taking his time. The blond ordered a second and third bowl before Kakashi finished his and put his mask back-

Naruto froze. He turned very slowly to look at Kakashi. _Did I just... Was that really..._ "Kakashi-sensei, did I just see your face?"

The silver-haired nin blinked, "What?"

Naruto stared open-mouthed, _So _that's_ what it looks like. HAH! I told you, Sakura._ He grinned and shook his head, "Nevermind, it's nothing."

Kakashi shrugged and got up, "I'll see you tomorrow, then. We're receiving another mission, so be there early."

Naruto snorted, _Sure, just as early as you._ He waved a hand in a brief goodbye and turned back to his fourth bowl of ramen, ignoring thoughts of the sleep he wasn't going to get and concentrating on his monstrous hunger.

((so actually, these things SUCK ASS))

**AN:** Oh my, taking advice from the Kyuubi. Tsk, tsk.

And I know it's a little unfair to ask, but reviews help!


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